Evils Offspring
by trinastar818
Summary: Orihime stared at the stick in her hand. It was impossible. This was impossible. There was no way this was happening... "It's because of you that Aizen managed to do what he did and yet we're the ones who have to pay the price for it. So you tell me, how is that just or fair?" My take on what happened after Aizen, to both Orihime and Momo.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

_2 Years Ago…_

Orihime stared at the stick in her hand. It was impossible. This was impossible. There was no way this was happening.

"What does it say?" The other girl asked her, already guessing her answer from the ashen expression on her face.

She didn't answer, just staring down at the little plus sign on the stick.

"Orihime?" she called softly, getting up from her spot on the couch and walking over to her friend.

Instead of answering, Orihime just sank down slowly to the floor. The other girl was at her side in flash. She glanced at the stick and it confirmed what she had already guessed.

She wrapped her arms around Orihime. "It's okay," she said softly. "Everything is going to be okay."

Orihime stared up at her with a tortured expression. "How? How is this okay? How will this ever be okay?" Her whole body stiffened as a horrible realization hit her. "When… if…"

A hand gently brushed the hair out of her face and she looked up to see that that the other girls eyes were filled with concern. "What is it? What are you thinking, Orihime?"

Tears started to stream down Orihime's face. "When the Soul Society finds out… are they… will they…"

Her friends face fell as she understood Orihime's train of thought. "I don't know."

Their eyes locked. "Don't lie to me." Orihime's voice was firm and her eyes were hardened by an inner strength that hadn't been seen before the incident with Aizen. If anything good had come from that occurrence it was that Orihime had found her backbone.

"Yes, they will probably kill both of you. There's still some dispute over the fact that you were left alive and free to do as you please even though you had been declared a traitor. The Head-Captain did publically announce that you weren't a traitor and that you had in fact been kidnapped by Aizen, but there are many who think that you did betray us and the only reason you got off so easy is because of your relationship with Ichigo."

Orihime sighed. "I can see why people would think that."

They sat in silence for a long moment before Orihime sighed and stood up. She wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly walked into the kitchen. Her friend got up to follow her.

"So," she asked Orihime after a long moment. "What do you want to do?"

Orihime continued to stare out the window for a moment before turning back. "The only thing I can do."

She stared at her for a moment. "And that is…" she prodded when Orihime failed to continue.

Orihime looked shocked that she hadn't automatically knew. "Well, I'm not going to just sit around and wait for the Soul Society to find out and decide my fate and that of… this." She gestured wildly with her hands. "So you see, I only have the one option."

"Again, I ask what that option is?"

Orihime smiled. "I have to run away."

The other girl froze. _Run away?_ The more she thought about it the more she realized that Orihime was right. There was no way this situation would end well if she stayed. The only chance she had was if she ran. But she wouldn't last long by herself.

While she waited for the other girls response, Orihime began to plan things out in her head. She knew this was her only option, she knew that she could do this, she just wasn't sure how.

Her head snapped up when she heard her friends response. "Okay then. When do we leave?"

They locked eyes for a moment and then Orihime smiled.

**Okay guys, so what do think? Thoughts, comments, concerns? Please please please review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Alrighty, so here is the first legit chapter of Evil's Offspring. That first upload was just a prologue. Any guess's as to who the girl was Orihime was talking too? Dang, guess it's kind of too late to ask that. Shout out to KazumaKaname for being my first reviewer! Thanks so much! Anyway, here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 1

_Present Day_

"As you are all aware there has been an increase in the number of disappearances in the Rukongai as of late. According to Squad 12, these disappearances are due to internal quarrels and bear no connection to the mass disappearances of hollows in Hueco Mundo."

The other Captains of the Gotei 13 stared at Captain-Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto as he spoke with varying degrees of interest, most noticeably of which was Squad 8 Captain Shunsui Kyoraku, who looked as if he was suffering from a massive hangover, Squad 11 Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, who was smirking slightly and was probably imagining a fight he either had had or was going to have, and Squad 12 Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who was audibly sighing and looking bored.

"Has there been any other information found concerning the disturbances in Hueco Mundo?" asked Squad 4 Captain Retsu Unohana.

Before the Head Captain could answer her, there was a knock outside the door. All of the Captains looked at it in surprise. It was almost unheard of for a Captains meeting to be interrupted unless it was an emergency. Squad 2 Captain Sui-Feng glared at the door in outrage.

"Enter," called out the Head Captain, annoyance at the interruption clear in his voice.

The doors opened to reveal a kneeling squad member. "Sir," he spoke clearly, head still lowered. "We have located and retrieved the former Squad 5 lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, and the human Orihime Inoue."

Every Captain in the room was visibly surprised by the news. "You've found Momo?" Squad 10 Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya asked softly, eyes wide.

"Yes, sir," replied the soul reaper.

"Why have you interrupted this meeting to tell us this? That information could've waited until this meeting was adjourned." Sui-Feng had regained her annoyance after the initial shock of the news had passed.

It had been two years since Momo Hinamori and Orihime Inoue were last seen. Just weeks after Sosuke Aizen had been defeated and sentenced to 20,000 years in Muken, the 8th and lowest level of the underground prison beneath Squad 1 barracks, Momo had disappeared from Squad 4's hospital, where she had been recovering from her wounds that she had received during the battle in the fake Karakura town. A few days later, Orihime had been declared missing in the World of the Living. There were no traces of either left behind, making it appear as if both had disappeared into thin air.

Considering both of their connections to Aizen, many in the Soul Society had feared that the two girls had been planning a way to release Aizen from his prison and had run away to rejoin with any living allies he had left. After days of nothing turned into weeks, and then into months and a year, it had been thought that the girls had not run away and were not planning to try and free Aizen; that they may have, in fact, been kidnapped. As the silence continued though, most serious efforts to find them had dwindled away. To be told that now, after so long and with so much going on, they had been found was causing many mixed emotions to arise. They were all relieved that the girls had been found, but was it really a coincidence that they reappeared now?

"We were given orders to inform the Head Captain immediately once either one or both of them had been found and brought back to the Seireitei," responded the nameless soul reaper to Sui-Feng. He then spoke again to the Head Captain. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Bring them here immediately," answered the Head Captain.

"Yes, sir." The man shunpoed away. It was silent in the room as everyone waited, occasionally glancing over at Hitsugaya to try and measure his reaction to the events occurring as he was the one who would be most affected by their reappearance. His face was carefully blank but his mind was whirling around with emotions. _Momo. Momo's back. And she's safe. Was she and Oriheme purposefully together or was it just a coincidence? And if they were together, then why?_

There was movement out in the hallway and then Momo and Orihime were dragged into the room by 4 soul reapers and were followed in by several other. Both girls' arms were bound by chains of energy that was unmistakably Bakudo 63: Sajo Sabaku.

"Why are they bound?" asked Squad 13 Captain Juushiro Ukitake, visibly confused at the sight of such a high level kido.

"They strongly resisted us when we tried to bring them back and several soul reapers were badly injured as a result," explained one of the guards. Many of the Captains faces showed shock at the information and Kenpachi looked at the two prisoners with renewed interest.

Both girls' heads were down and their expressions were hidden in shadows. After they had been forced to kneel on the floor in the middle of the rows of Captains, Momo finally looked up and immediately locked eyes with Toshiro Hitsugaya. His eyes widened at what he saw. The expression on her face was one he had never seen before; not even when she'd thought he'd killed Aizen or when she had appeared in the fake Karakura Town to fight the Arrancars and Aizen. It was the look of pure, undiluted rage. Another thing that shocked him was the bands wrapped around her mouth.

"Why is she gagged?" he asked, gesturing to her mouth.

"Even after we bound her she was still releasing kido spells."

Squad 6 Captain Byakuya Kuchiki's eyebrows rose at this. "Even with her hands bound?"

"Yes," another guard answered, shifting his stance to show a large burn on his leg.

All eyes turned back to Momo, expressions ranging from confused to hostile and, on Kenpachi's face, somewhat excited. "Leave us," ordered the Head Captain.

"Yes?" He then inquired when the guards visibly hesitated.

"Sir, there was someone else with them when they were located."

"So?"

"So, sir, we thought it best that you see this for yourself. We brought all three here." He kept his voice even and his face blank as he spoke but there were obvious traces of fear in his reitsu.

The Head Captains eyes opened at this and he studied the group before him intently.

"Bring this other person in," he ordered after a moment of deliberation.

"Yes, sir," One of the men left the room and walked into the hallway.

"So," said one of the Captains during the momentary silence. "How have you been, Orihime?"

Her head snapped up at the sound of her name and the voice that was saying it. "Shinji? Shinji Hirako?"

"Hey, hey! That's Captain Shinji Hirako now!" he replied in his normal, carefree tone.

Momo looked away from Hitsugaya to see where Shinji was standing. Her eyebrows rose and she made a small noise through her gag. "You're the new Captain of Squad 5?"

Orihime asked when she too noticed where he was standing.

"Technically speaking, I'm not the new Captain. More like the returning Captain, seeing as how I was Captain before Aizen." He kept his eyes trained on Orihime's face.

Before anything else could be said there were footsteps from the hall. Orihime froze up and her face turned panicked. Momo started to struggle as hard as possible against her bonds. Their responses just made the Captains that much more intrigued as to who this third person could be.

Tears began to stream down Orihime's face as a soul reaper walked into the room carrying a small unconscious boy. They were unable to see his face at first until the man shifted him in his arms and his face was tilted at an angle where they could all get a good look at him. He had deep brown hair, visibly chiseled features despite still having his baby fat, and was a distinctly smaller version of Sosuke Aizen. There was barely a moment of silence before the room exploded with noise.

"What the hell?!" cried Squad 9 Captain Kensei Muguruma.

"Impossible," growled Squad 7 Captain Sajin Komamura.

Sui-Feng's response was the loudest though. "He had a kid?" she hissed in shock. After a second her expression hardened. "Well, what are you waiting for? Kill it!"

"No!" shrieked Orihime. "No! Please! PLEASE! Don't hurt him! He's just a baby. He's not Aizen. He's just a baby. He's my baby. Please." Her words were almost indistinguishable through her sobs.

It was chaos. The Captains were all shouting at each other, the guards were unsure what they do, and Momo and Orihime were both desperately trying to get free. "That is enough." the Head Captains voice rang out.

Everyone froze. The Head Captains eyes were all the way open and it seemed like actual flames were evident in their depths. "You," he ordered, looking at the guards surrounding the girls. "Leave. Now."

Again they hesitated. "What should we do with the child?"

Ukitake stepped forward. "I'll take him."

The man handed the boy over to him and Ukitake cradled him gently in his arms. With one last bow to the Captains assembled they left. Orihime and Momo were both shaking but their eyes stayed locked onto the little boys face.

"Explain yourselves," ordered Sui-Feng, moving to stand in front of them. Orihime didn't react but Momo turned to look at the small woman. Her eyes narrowed and she tried to say something through her gag.

"Sorry," the Captain said with a smirk in the former lieutenants direction. "Can't understand what you're saying."

"She said go to hell," Orihime spoke up, still staring at the boy.

Sui-Feng snarled at her but before she could say anything the Head Captain spoke again. "I said enough. Take your place Captain."

She immediately did as she was told. Another moment passed with no words said as all the Captains looked back and forth between the two girls and the small boy.

Ukitake spoke up again. "Orihime, who is this?"

She tore her eyes away from the boy to stare at him for a long moment, a sort of desperate air surrounding her. Oriheme took a deep breath and then said, "His name is Aisamu Sora Inoue. He's my son."

**Alright so what did you think? Good, bad? Was it unexpected? Sorry if any of the characters seem wrong. The one I'm most worried about writing is Momo. It's just so hard to write in her voice because the only time we really see her talk is when she's either freaking out or explaining things. Sigh. Anyway, the boys name is a combination of Ai, which means love, and Isamu, which means courage or bravery in case you were wondering. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**And here we are at Chapter 2! Although, I think the prologue got listed as a Chapter so that would make this Chapter 3. Whatever. I really enjoyed the comments I got! And I deeply apologize for my failure as a Bleach fan. It was pointed out to me that I was spelling Orihime's name wrong. I actually fell off my bed when I read that. I am so embarrassed. I've already gone back and fixed that mistake but I wanted to formally apologize for that. Well, here you go! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

The silence in the meeting room was almost as deafening as when all the Captains had been shouting at each other. Which Orihime thought was strange because how could silence be deafening? And yet at that moment, she felt like her eardrums were ringing with the loudness of the silence.

"Your son?" Ukitake repeated, the disbelief in his voice tinged with horror.

"You were pregnant? That thing was inside of you?" Sui-Feng's voice was filled with disgust.

Momo started mumbling something through her gag again and Orihime was now glad that the guards had gagged her. When Orihime had first met Momo, she had been the type of person to deal with stressful or awkward situations by being as still as possible and only speaking when it was absolutely necessary. Now though, she had become a person who said whatever came to mind and the worse the situation was, the ruder her comments became. Normally, Orihime had no problem letting Momo say whatever she wanted to, she felt it was healthier for Momo to let it out rather than bottle it up, but in this situation her comment could be what killed them.

"I believe it is time for you two to explain yourselves," the Head Captain said calmly, one hand resting on his staff.

Orihime nodded and then glanced over at Momo. "Um, sir? Could you please un-gag Momo? She should be allowed to explain some things herself."

His gaze settled on Momo. "That depends on whether or not she can control her temper enough to be allowed the privilege to speak."

Momo's eyebrows shot up as high as they could go. "Mmhhmm hm? Hmm mm mhmm mhhhm hm mmhmm?"

Orihime was really glad she was gagged. "She can do that! That's not a problem!" she chirped. "Right, Momo?"

Momo just looked at her and she seemed to be thinking something along the lines of, "Hell no."

Orihime glared at her. "Momo," she hissed. "Please. For me."

Momo rolled her eyes. "Hmmhmm."

"You know," Shinji said, his trademark grin in place. "It'd be a lot easier if you would just nod your head yes or shake your head no to a question."

Momo glowered at him before she nodded as slowly and sarcastically as she could manage while being bound and gagged. Someone stepped up from behind her and the gag dropped down to the floor. She coughed a couple times and moved her jaw around.

"Your explanation," stated the Head Captain.

" Right. Yes. Explanation." Orihime said and after a second turned to Momo. "You should probably start at least. After all, you were the one who figured this all out."

Momo looked at her for a second and nodded. Turning back to the Head Captain, she started to speak. "As you already know, a few weeks after the war ended I snuck out of my room in Squad 4. After I left, I immediately headed to the World of Living to find Orihime."

"Why?" Toshiro interrupted. "Why did you leave, Momo?" He felt slightly awkward being so informal with her in such a formal setting, but it had been so long since he had last seen her that he felt that, for now at least, he should drop the formalities.

She glanced back at him and answered coldly, "Because I wanted to check on Orihime."

"Yes, but why?" Kuchiki now spoke up. "You had no previous contact or connection with her."

"Yes, I did." Momo answered quietly. "I was connected to her because I was the only one who truly understood what it felt like to be trapped by Aizen." She paused again to collect her thoughts, staring intently at the floor in front of the Head Captain. "After everything that happened with Aizen and the war and being in the hospital… it was a lot to deal with. And I never got a chance to deal with it while I was here, constantly surrounded by people and I get it, you all were just concerned about how I was dealing with things. But having people there all the time made it impossible to deal with things. Every person who walked through that door was another reminder of how I failed.

"Then one of the many visitors I had mentioned Orihime and that it was lucky she was okay. I had remembered hearing something about her being kidnapped by Aizen, so I asked them about her. How she was doing, was she okay, what happened to her; you know, those types of questions. They just shrugged their shoulders at me and said that she seemed fine. They had no idea what happened to her in Hueco Mundo; no one had bothered to ask her and she hadn't felt like sharing. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She had just been sent off with a 'Sorry' and a wave and that was it? No one was staying with her or checking on her? What had happened to her was just as bad as what had happened to me and yet no one cared about how she was doing and I couldn't understand why. Was it because she's a human? Was it because I was a lieutenant? Why did I matter when she apparently didn't? Since I had seen first-hand the kind of damage Aizen's attention could do to a person, I decided to check on her." Momo paused, and then Orihime picked up where she had left off.

"I hadn't expected to see Momo. Actually, I hadn't really expected to see anyone. It had been weeks since I had left here and no one had come to check on me so I figured you guys didn't really care to know what had happened." It was hard for Orihime to be this honest, to show any face other than her normally cheerful one, but she knew that this was the best way to save herself, her friend, and her son.

"When she showed up at my door I was surprised. I had no idea who she was at first but once she told me her name I remembered Rangiku telling me that she was Aizen's lieutenant and that he had attacked her and put her in a coma before he left the Soul Society. I also remembered that he had tricked you all into attacking her during the fight in the fake Karakura town. I invited her in and she told me that she had come of her own accord to see how I was doing. She told me that she knew how hard it could be to recover after you had spent quality time with Aizen." A small smile spread across her face. "I tried to lie. I told her I was fine, that it really hadn't been that bad. She knew I was lying though. She told me that she was going to be staying in my world for a couple of days and was wondering if she could stay with me since Rangiku seemed to have so much fun while she was staying with me. I didn't want to let her but I couldn't turn her away."

"Why didn't you want her to stay with you?" Ukitake asked, still cradling the sleeping child in his arms.

"Because I was lying about being alright and I knew that if she stayed with me it wouldn't take too long for her to work that out on her own."

Momo spoke up again. "As she had said, I knew she was lying. There were bags under her eyes, she was pale, and she just overall looked unhealthy. She had made dinner that night and I saw that she only took a few bites of her food; she mostly just pushed it around on her plate. When we finally went to bed, it was only a few hours before she woke up screaming. I calmed her down and she fell back asleep but then woke up again later screaming. She constantly had nightmares all throughout the night. Then in the morning when she tried to skip breakfast, I made her eat and then she threw it up a little while later. It only took a few days before I realized that everything that was happing to her may not be just because of trauma."

"You thought that she might have been pregnant," stated Unohana.

Momo nodded. "While I was bedridden, Rangiku had brought by some of the magazines she had picked up in the World of the Living for me to read. One of the articles was about what one should expect when they were expecting. It listed some of the symptoms that a pregnant woman would experience while being with child: such as feeling nauseous, feeling tired, dizzy, feeling adverse to certain foods or smells while craving other things, having heartburn, and also some pretty intense mood swings. It also said that some women have really intense dreams due to hormones. All of those things could also occur because of stress but I just wanted to make sure. At that point, she had already told me about what had happened to her and she hadn't mentioned anything about having… relations while she was gone but I specifically asked her if she had just to be sure. She said nothing had happened and I believed her but that didn't mean that something hadn't happened and she just couldn't remember. So I went out and bought a pregnancy test. Orihime took it and it came back positive."

"So," Kurotsuchi interrupted. "You realized the girl was pregnant with Aizen's child and ran away."

"Not exactly," answered Orihime. "We knew that if I was pregnant that I would have to run away but at-home pregnancy tests aren't always accurate so Momo thought that first we should go to a clinic and get a blood test to find out for sure if I was pregnant so we did. It came back positive and the nurse had told me that I was about two months along."

"How were you unaware you were pregnant for so long?" asked Squad 3 Captain Rojuro Otoribashi, or Rose as he was better known as to Orihime. "Surely you would have noticed that your body was changing more so than what Hinamori was aware of."

"Well yes, but I had thought it was just stress. It wouldn't have been the first time that I had felt off due to stress." Orihime responded calmly.

"But two months?" asked Kyoraku. "That's a long time to be feeling off."

"Again, yes but most of that time was spent in Las Noches so I didn't find it odd that I wasn't feeling well while I was there and after I had gotten back I was a mess. My health wasn't really a huge concern for me."

"You do realize that it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies while she over there right?" Momo interjected. "She had other things to worry about than a stomachache and some nausea."

"Anyway," Orihime interrupted, determined to get things back on track so that this whole thing would be over as soon as possible. "After we found out I was really pregnant I started panicking. I mean, I didn't even remember having, you know, sex with anyone while I was there. I was worried that something had happened and I didn't remember and that there might be something wrong or damaged and when you're pregnant you're really emotional so I was a total mess. Momo took me to a different clinic to get me checked out because we couldn't really tell the nurse that I had spoken too and who had confirmed my pregnancy that I didn't remember having sex and asking her to check and make sure that it really happened."

"That," Momo interrupted again. "Was something we wanted to check because I knew there was a chance that Aizen might have done something to her using the Hogyoku, which would have… left… everything… intact." She looked slightly embarrassed at having to say something so delicate in nature but then continued on. "When we got to the other clinic, I told the doctor who was seeing us that a couple of months ago something had happened to Orihime and she may have been raped but she couldn't remember for sure and it was causing her health problems due to stress. The doctor told us that since it had been awhile there probably wouldn't be any outward signs of physical trauma but there may have been some inner ones. She looked at Orihime and declared that nothing had happened to her and everything was as it should be. That's when we realized that, most likely, this was Aizen's child. We had thought at first that it could've been an Arrancar's child, possibly even one of the Espada's but since there were no signs of rape, it was seriously unlikely that that was the case. It was at that point that we ran away."

"Did the possibility never occur to you," Kurotsuchi asked in his typical tone of haughtiness. "That this child was in fact a clone of Aizen as a sort of back-up plan if he should have failed?"

"Of course it did," Momo snapped. "Despite what you people seem to think of us, we aren't stupid or naïve. We knew there was a good chance of that, yet at the same time we couldn't kill an innocent child for what it could be. After he was born we took him to get a DNA test to see if Orihime was his biological mother. If she wasn't, then it would have been almost certain that the child was a clone. However, the test results showed that Orihime was his mother. Aizen may have planted a clone of himself inside her at first but over time, and most likely due to her powers, Aisamu could have grown to have her DNA. Or, and I find this the most likely possibility, he impregnated her as a way of messing with us. Either by trapping her too him so that even if she was rescued, once she found out she was pregnant she would have had to come back to him to keep the child safe or, in the unlikely event that he lost, this type of situation would happen. He would find what's happening at this exact moment utterly amusing."

"So," Ukitake murmured. "This really is your child."

"Yes," answered Orihime. "He really is. He's not Aizen."

"Why hasn't the kid woken up yet?" asked Zaraki, speaking for the first time.

"Because," Momo snarled, her face a mask of rage again. "Those cowards used Hakufuku on him. He was scared and crying and they didn't want to deal with it so they just knocked him out."

"Well," said Unohana. "The spell should be wearing off soon so I wouldn't be too concerned."

"That's good," sighed Orihime, looking relieved. "Um, do you think you could maybe unbind us now?"

"Why don't you just have Momo do it?" Taunted Sui-Feng. "Since she's apparently so great at kido."

Before anyone could respond to either Sui-Feng or Orihime a soft sigh came from Ukitake's arms. They all turned to look as Aisamu stirred and then opened his eyes. They were a soft brown color, the same as Aizen's but also Orihime's. He looked around in confusion before looking up at Ukitake. He started to struggle in his arms as he asked softly, "Mama?"

"I'm right here, sweetie," Orihime called softly.

Aisamu looked over at her and took in her bound arms and sad eyes. He may not have known exactly what was happening but he knew his mama was in pain and he didn't like that. He began to struggle harder in an attempt to reach her. "Mama!" He cried.

When he realized the arms holding him were not going to put him down he twisted around to face Ukitake. "Mama." He said firmly, pointing over to Orihime.

"I'm sorry," Ukitake told him softly. "You can't go to Mama right now. My name is Juushiro Ukitake."

Aisamu just looked at him. He didn't care what his name was. "Down!" He commanded, pointing at the floor. Ukitake just shook his head and Aisamu grew angry. He grabbed Ukitake's long white hair and starting yanking on it as hard as possible.

Ukitake winced in pain and tried to grab his hand but by then Aisamu had managed to grab two fistfuls of hair and when Ukitake would pry one hand off, the other would just keep on yanking. Momo started to laugh.

"Aisamu," Orihime called, giving him a stern look. He stopped pulling Ukitake's hair but still kept a firm grip on it. "You stop that right now. That is not nice. Let go."

Aisamu knew she was upset with him but he was upset too! He gave her a sad look.

"Mama…"

Orihime shook her head. "Don't give me that look. You let go of his hair and say sorry."

Aisamu did as he was told. "Sorry," he told her.

"Don't apologize to me," she said, nodding behind him. He had known who she wanted him to apologize too; he just didn't want to do it.

He turned to face the strange white-haired man. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Ukitake said with a little laugh. "I know you're probably mad and scared right now."

Aisamu really didn't understand what he was saying and he didn't really care. He looked at him carefully and asked, "Mama?"

Ukitake shook his head again. "Not yet. I'm sorry."

Aisamu knew that he wasn't going to get put down now and he wasn't going to be held by his mama and listen to her sing softly to him. He started to shake slightly and ducked his head down to hide his tears. The sight of his obvious pain slightly softened some of the Captains hearts.

Momo glanced over at Orihime. During the entire exchange she had had a sad look in her eyes, obviously wanting to heed to her son's wishes and go over to him. Once she saw his tears though, the sadness gave way to a sort of agony that Momo also felt, although not as much as Orihime obviously did. Orihime turned and ducked away from him but before her hair hid her face completely, Momo saw that her eyes had started to turn gold.

Shinji's own eyes widened, for he too had been staring at Orihime's face and had seen the strange gold in her eyes. Before anyone could do anything the bonds on Momo's arms disintegrated. She rotated her shoulders and then crawled over to Orihime, removing her bonds as well. Orihime stayed kneeling for a second longer before jumping to her feet and over to Ukitake, taking her son from his arms. Aisamu looked up in surprise when he felt himself being passed off and saw Orihime. He threw his arms around her neck and clung to her tightly, burying his face into the crook of her neck. She felt his tears on her skin and started cooing to him softly. Ukitake stood next to her, watching the mother and son carefully. He was the only one though; the other Captains were watching Momo.

"So," she said, staring directly in the Head Captains slitted eyes. "What happens now?"

**Whew! Alright so a few last things: 1. Aisamu is 18 months old and I have worked with kids his age before so I know that this is exactly what their reaction to not be allowed to go to their mother would be. Thought about having him hit Ukitake but decided pulling his hair would be funnier. 2. I know Orihime and Momo probably came off wrong in this chapter but I think their reactions are correct for this situation. Orihime is a mother desperately trying to save her son. And Momo… well, I personally felt she really didn't have a personality in the manga to begin with so I took some liberties with her. A better explanation of why they acted the way they did just now will be explained later. As always, please review and let me know what you thought!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Here is Chapter 3! Sorry for the late update! Happy readings!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Bleach or its characters but I am eternally thankful to Tite Kubo for creating it for us.**

Chapter 3

"So," she said, staring directly in the Head Captains slitted eyes. "What happens now?"

Momo made sure to keep her eyes strong and steady on the Head Captain. She couldn't show any fear or hesitation in front of the Captains. She knew they were surprised and a bit unnerved by her actions; they probably weren't expecting weak, hesitant Momo to have a grown a backbone. And they were mostly right in the assumption. She had no idea what she was doing. She had panicked and instinctively pulled up all the anger and rage she had towards these people and let it guide her actions but that couldn't work forever. Momo may have managed to grow a spine over the past two years but that didn't mean that she had become…well, a bitch.

She glanced over at Orihime and Aisamu. He was still shaking slightly and he had kept his face hidden in his mothers' neck. Orihime was glancing around cagily, as if searching for a way to escape. Momo's heart ached for them. They didn't deserve this. It wasn't Aisamu's fault that he was born and that his father was an evil psychopath but that wasn't going to matter to them. All they cared about was that he could be a potential threat and it was better to kill him early than risk it. That was what the Gotei 13 and Central 46 had been like before and she figured that it was going to be the same now, if not worse.

The Head Captain looked away from Momo towards Orihime and Aisamu. Orihime kept her eyes on him and steadied her breathing. She would not show any hesitation or fear. Right here and right now, these people were her enemy and she would stand her ground.

After a long moment of silence Sui-Feng spoke up again. "The proper thing to do is to turn them over to Central 46. We have a legal responsibility to-"

"Right," Momo practically snarled, reitsu flaring. "Because you're all about proper. After this, are you going to go arrest Yoruichi Shihoin for being a deserter?"

If Sui-Feng wasn't riled up before, she was now. "This is a completely different situation!" she spat at Momo.

"Really? How so? Because you're stalking her and probably stealing her dirty laundry, hiding it under your pillow, and sniffing it at night?" Momo knew that this behavior probably wasn't going to help her case but she couldn't stand Sui-Feng's attitude. She didn't know anything and yet there she was, trying to play judge, jury, and executioner.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" the Head Captain shouted. Everyone in the room jumped and then cringed as the Captains heavy reitsu washed over them. "Since you two can obviously not speak to each other civilly then I forbid you to speak to each other at all. The next time you speak to one other without express permission I will have both of arrested for insubordination. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir" both Momo and Sui-Feng muttered at the same time.

Before the Head Captain could speak any further, Momo spoke again. "Before you make your decision regarding what to do with us, I would like to say something." He nodded his approval and she continued.

"You can arrest me and throw me in jail for desertion."

"Momo!" Orihime cried out in shock and horror. Momo waved a hand at her to indicate that she wasn't done speaking yet.

"You can arrest me," she repeated. "But you can't arrest them."

"Oh really?" Shinji asked, interested. "And why is that?"

"Because they've broken no laws," she answered. "While I can be charged for desertion, you have nothing on them. What are you going to arrest them for? Are you going to arrest Orihime for being kidnapped, something that was our fault? Are you going to arrest her for having some sort of experiment done on her during her kidnapping, which was our fault? And are you going to arrest Aisamu for being born? For having to share DNA with Aizen? He didn't ask for that and last time I checked, none of those things are illegal. Unless of course you've declared existing to be a crime." It was silent for a moment after her speech.

"It may not be his fault who his father is," Kyoraku finally said. "But that doesn't change that the fact that he is still a potential threat."

The soul reapers all glanced over at Aisamu. Orihime had made sure his ears were covered once Momo started talking. The side of his head was resting right over her heart and she had her hand over his exposed ear. He was looking at all the Captains he could see, his eyes focused at that moment on Kyoraku, who looked right back at him. They stared at each other for a few minutes before Aisamu suddenly smiled and stuck his tongue out at him. Kyoraku's eyes widened for a moment and then he smiled back.

"Will that be what you tell the public?" Momo asked.

"What?" Kyoraku asked, looking away from Aisamu.

"Will that be what you tell the public?" Momo repeated. "That you murdered a one year old child because he _could_ be a threat? Bet they all will love that. They'll talk about how 'The Soul Society kills children because they could be evil'. You do realize what will result from that, right? Any people with morals who have spiritual pressure will refuse to join an organization that murders children because of what they could be. The only people who will join you will be disgusting thugs."

The room was silent again. Momo was right, as much as some of them hated to admit it.

Orihime spoke up now. "You can't decide someone's fate based on what they might be."

Everyone turned to look at her and she flinched inwardly. She hated being the center of attention but she needed to say this. "Everyone has the potential for both good and evil. Their fates are decided by their actions, most of which will be influenced on what they learn as a child. We learn the difference between right and wrong from the people who raise us and from our own experiences. You say Aisamu could be evil because Aizen is his father, but I'm his mother. I'm his mother and you all don't think I'm evil right?"

"Yes, Orihime, but Aizen did this for a reason," Unohana said in her usual gentle tone. "It is unreasonable for you to expect us to do nothing with that being a fact."

"I'm not asking you to do nothing. I'm just asking you to not decide that he's a monster before you've even met him. I'm asking you to not base your decision on what might be. You can't know for sure that he's going to be evil and if everyone based their decisions on what might be they would lose sight of what is." Orihime was pleading now.

"He may have the devil for a father," Momo spoke up again. "But he has an angel for a mother. Give us the chance to prove to you that he is not a threat. Give us that, before you make any rash decisions that may come back to haunt you."

Her choice of words seemed to affect the Head Captain. He stood there, seeming to mull over her words.

Sui-Feng looked shocked at the Head Captains contemplation. "You cannot actually be considering this right, Head Captain? That's Souske Aizen's son."

Momo's jaw visibly clinched but she didn't say anything.

Kyoraku spoke up now. "Really Old Man, what's the harm in letting them hang-out for a little while longer?"

"You mean other than the fact that they have the possibility of destroying us?" Sui-Feng snarled.

"I doubt the one year old boy is much of threat right now," Kyoraku countered. "And do you think we're not capable of handling a former lieutenant and a human girl?"

"I agree," Kurosutchi said, with a strange glint in his already mad eyes. "I could take the boy and study him to make sure he is not threat to us."

"Over my dead body," growled Momo, stepping in front of Orihime and Aisamu as Orihime twisted her body to shield her son from the crazy Captains sight.

Kurosutchi stared blankly at her. "That can be arranged."

Toshiro stepped forward, his hand on his sword. "Don't even think about it."

The Head Captain banged his staff on the floor, halting the argument before it could get too out of hand. "You all are acting like children and I will not have it."

He paused and waiting for everyone to resume their places before he continued. "I have made my decision. We will not do anything to the boy at this time. We will gather more information before we make our decision." Momo and Orihime both relaxed for the first time since entering the room.

"However," they tensed back up as he continued. "Until such a decision can be reached as to what is to be done with the boy, you will remain here in the Soul Society under the direct watch of the Captains."

Chaos erupted again. "This is absurd!" Sui-Feng shouted in rage.

"No way in hell!" Momo shouted over Sui-Feng's voice.

Orihime looked like she was about to faint.

The Head Captain didn't even bother to say anything, he just raised his spiritual pressure to the point where everyone felt like they were being crushed under a huge invisible weight. Aisamu, who was unused to feeling such powerful spiritual pressure, began to wail.

"Stop it!" Orihime cried out, erecting her Soten Kisshun shield around herself and Momo and rejecting the Head Captains spiritual pressure from within it.

Sui-Feng and several other Captains immediately went for their zanpakto but the Head Captain waved them away and then lowered his spiritual pressure back to its original level.

"You can come out now," called Kyoraku. Orihime and Momo exchanged looks and Momo stepped away from Orihime and Aisamu. Orihime then shrank the barrier so that Momo was outside it. After making sure everything was alright, Momo nodded to Orihime and the barrier completely dissolved.

"Head Captain, you cannot possibly expect us to stay in the Soul Society for however long it will take you to realize Aisamu isn't a threat." Momo couldn't believe that the old man was actually trying to make them stay here.

"And why not?" He asked, calmly.

Orihime had managed to calm Aisamu down and stared at Head Captain while patting her sons back in a soothing manner. "We have lives back home. We have jobs and other obligations that we can't just up and leave with no notice. Also, despite the fact that you seem to think Aisamu is a threat that is going to tear the Soul Society apart with his bare hands, he is only one and staying in an environment where everyone hates him is going to have a negative effect on him in the future. It may even turn him into the monster you seem to think he will be. Like I said, a person's personality and actions are based on their experiences while they're young. If you make it seem like the Soul Society hates him then he will grow to hate the Soul Society in return. And if none of those reasons are enough for you, then how about the fact that you have none of the material necessities we need. Aisamu needs clothes, diapers, wipes, books, toys, a crib; you know, normal things babies need and I doubt you have the same things we use back home which is what we would need to stay here. Children need to have familiar things around them, especially in a difficult situation such as this."

Momo was proud of her for saying all those things. They had always known that there was a possibility the Soul Society could find them and they had discussed any and all arguments that they should make. Orihime had nailed it, although neither of them had thought of the possibility that the Head Captain would try to keep them there.

"Are those all of your concerns?" The old captain asked calmly.

"One last thing," Momo said as something else occurred to her. "When you all learned about his existence, you wanted Aisamu killed. How do you think all of the other soul reapers will respond once they learn about it? You said you'll have us with Captain-class Soul Reapers at all times, but imagine the chaos that will erupt once everyone hears that Aizen has a son, who's in the Soul Society waiting to have his fate decided by the Captains. How many Soul Reapers will try to take matters into their own hands? This place will be blown apart in a full-scale riot. It'd be a lot easier to keep things calm if we weren't here."

Momo mentally patted herself on the back for having such a brilliant argument. The Head Captain still had a blank expression on his face, which she was disappointed with because she had kind of been hoping he would at least look contemplative towards everything going on. Instead, he looked like he was asleep on his feet.

"I understand your concerns and have made my decisions regarding them," he told them calmly. The two girls glanced at each other. Made his decisions? That didn't even make sense.

"You, Orihime Inoue, will be allowed to return to the World of the Living," Momo's spirits lifted while Orihime's plummeted. She couldn't leave Momo here, not after everything she had done for them. "To collect your things." The Head Captain finished.

Silence. "What?" Momo asked.

"Orihime Inoue will be allowed to return to the World of Living for a short time under guard to collect the items she needs to stay here for as long as needed. The bigger things, such as a crib, will be provided for you. While you are collecting your things, Momo will remain here with the boy. Once you return, you will go to wherever your respective Captains decide to place you."

"Respective Captains?" Echoed Momo. "You mean you're going to separate us?" They couldn't separate them. They needed to be together. Orihime needed her, now more than ever. She couldn't leave her alone.

"Now now," said Kyoraku, sensing Momo's growing anger and panic. "It's for the best. We can't really tell how you guys are doing if you're all together now can we?"

Orihime looked at him for a moment. "You mean your studying all of us?" she asked softly. "But why? I thought you only cared about Aisamu."

"Yes," said Ukitake in his usual soft tone. "But Momo made a valid point. When you returned from Hueco Mundo we didn't check to see how you were doing mentally. Because we saw no obvious wounds we assumed you were fine. Now we realize that we made a mistake and we need to fix it."

Orihime's eyes seemed to harden. "It's a little late for that now, isn't it?"

They were surprised by both her tone and the look in her eyes. The Captains who had met her before had known her to be a sweet, happy girl and the Captains who hadn't met her had heard her be described in such a manner. This girl was neither of those things and it left most of the Captains wondering what had exactly happened while she was gone.

Sui-Feng wasn't one of those Captains. Turning to the Head Captain she said, "I think I should be in charge of the boy."

Momo opened her mouth to argue but Ukitake beat her to it. "I don't think that is the wisest choice."

"And why not?" she asked, hostilely.

"Because you have obviously already decided that they should be executed," Kyoraku said with his trademark grin. "Therefore it should be someone a little more neutral."

"Oh my god," Momo said to no one in particular. "We're trapped here. We're actually trapped here. We're going to be stuck here until the day we die."

"Don't be so dramatic," Kyoraku chided lightly. "It won't be that bad."

She glared at him. "Oh really? It won't be that bad? So if constantly being hated and judged, having people attack you as often as possible and with everything they have, and being forced to watch as the people you care about more than anything in the world are persecuted for something they had no control over does not qualify as bad in your eyes then what does?"

"Nothing will happen to you while you're under our care," Ukitake tried to reassure her.

Momo gave a short laugh. "Yeah, that's real comforting coming from a man who can barely walk down the street without nearly coughing up his own lung."

"That's enough, Momo," Orihime stated, quietly. Everyone turned to look at her. For a moment, it had almost been like she wasn't there. A feeling she had been all too familiar with two years ago. She wasn't that girl from two years ago though, and she had no intention of fading in the background and letting her fate be decided for her.

Shifting Aisamu slightly she took a deep breath and looked around at all the Captains and finally rested her gaze on Momo. "That's enough," she repeated. "What's done is done and there is obviously no changing their minds. What's important now is making the best of our situation. And with that in mind," she then turned to face the Head Captain. "Who exactly will we each be staying with?"

Toshiro immediately stepped forward. "I request to have former-Lieutenant Hinamori placed into my care."

Momo rolled her eyes at his formalness. "Of course you do."

The Head Captain studied the child prodigy for a moment before nodding. "Your request is granted."

Sui-Feng stepped forward again. "And will I be allowed to take charge of the boy?" she asked, although it didn't really sound like a question. It was like she knew he would say yes.

"No." The Head Captain said.

She stood there for a moment with the same confident expression on her face until his words seemed to register and her look was abruptly changed to one of shock. "No?" She repeated.

"No." He stated, calmly. "Kyoraku is right. There needs to be someone more objective in charge of the boy and his mothers care."

"I am objective!" Sui-Feng shouted.

Momo started laughing, wishing she could say something but she took the Head Captains threat seriously and decided to keep her mouth shut. Sui-Feng glared at her in rage and was about to say something to her when Shinji spoke up.

"I'll watch out for them," he said with a trademark smirk. "It would be my honor."

Momo stiffened and locked gazes with him. "That's a terrible idea."

Shinji raised an eyebrow at her. "And why is that?"

"Because you would be a terrible influence on Aisamu and also because everyone knows about your issues with Aizen and I doubt you would really be inclined to give a child who shares his DNA a fair chance at proving himself. Not that a one year old should really have to prove himself in any way, shape, or form but hey, that's just my opinion." She wasn't sure why she didn't like him, after all, Orihime seemed to have liked him and she knew he had helped fight Aizen during the battle but still, there was something off about him. She may not have been exactly sure what it was but she thought it would be better safe than sorry.

"I am great with children," Shinji said airily. "And while I may have issues on who his father is, I'm willing to give him a chance based on the identity of his mother." He grinned at Orihime, who just looked flatly back at him.

"You think you're great with children huh? Well, why don't we just ask." Momo turned to Aisamu, who lifted his head off of his mothers shoulder to be able to see her better, and said, "Hi sweetie. So tell me, do you want to stay with him for awhile?" She pointed at Shinji.

Aisamu turned and studied the man. He had weird sunny hair that wasn't straight like his moms was and there was something wrong with his face. His eyes weren't right, and neither was his smile. "No," he said distinctly, shaking his head.

"And there you go," Momo said, turning back to the returning Captain. "Guess you're not that great with children after all now are you?"

"Well, you don't have very many other options now do you?" He snapped. "In fact, you don't have any other options."

"I'll take Orihime and Aisamu," offered Ukitake.

Momo looked at him in surprise and she wasn't the only one. "You will?" asked Orihime in shock. She had gotten to know the Captain of Squad 13 quite well when she was last in the Soul Society training for the Winter War. Still though, she didn't expect for him to offer to take her and her son in, especially since he had almost been killed by Aizens Espada.

"Course he will," cried Kyoraku, slinging an arm around the white-haired man. "And I'll help him keep an eye on the little troublemaker as well. What do you say, old man?"

"Very well," said the aged Captain. Shinji looked slightly put out. "Now then, we need to decide who will accompany the human back to the World of the Living."

Orihime wanted to remind him that she had a name, but it wasn't her place to say anything, especially since the Head Captain had helped her and her son by not putting them with Squad 2 Captain.

"You can't serious be planning on sending a Captain down with her just to get some supplies," Momo scoffed. "That's reckless and stupid. You would attract Hollows like flies if you did so."

"We don't need to send an actual Captain down with the girl," Kuchiki stated. "We just need to have her be escorted by someone of Captain class. Might I suggest my Lieutenant to be the one to go with her?"

"My Lieutenant could also accompany them," offered Ukitake, almost eagerly. Momo immediately felt suspicious at Ukitake's tone. His Lieutenant? Last time she was here, he didn't have a Lieutenant and he had no plans of getting one. Not after what happened to Kaien Shiba. Except, perhaps, for…

"No!" exclaimed Momo.

Everyone stared at her. "No?" asked Captain Kuchiki.

"I mean," stumbled Momo. She had to be both quick and smart about this. If she came on too strong, then they would go ahead with that plan and she knew that wasn't a good idea. "Won't you need your Lieutenant to help you get things ready for Orihime when she comes back? I'm sure you're going to have to set up wards and barriers and other such things to make sure they stay locked away in whatever cage you put them into. And considering your condition, I'm sure you'll need all the help you can get." She truly didn't like being cruel to the gentle-hearted Captain but if his Lieutenant was who she thought it was then she couldn't allow them to go with Orihime without her being there to help.

"She does have a point," Kyoraku pointed out with a grin before anyone could respond to Momo. "How about instead of your Lieutenant going we send my little Nanao with Orihime and Renji?"

Ukitake looked slightly disappointed for a moment but then smiled again nodded. "Of course."

The Head Captain nodded again and then said, "One final thing. No one, outside of the Captains and their Lieutenants, is to know about the child. I will not having have the Seireitei be thrown into a panic because word of this leaks out. Am I understood?" Everyone in the room nodded and the relief was plain on Orihime and Momo's faces. The Head Captain looked at the Captains for another moment and then said, "Good. This Captains meeting is now adjourned."

With a respectful bow to their leader all the Captains except for Toshiro, Ukitake, and Kyoraku left, Sui-Feng throwing the two girls and the small boy a contemptuous look. Once the door closed behind her, Orihime turned to look at Ukitake.

"Please don't worry about getting a crib or any other extravagant things," she told him softly. "We don't really need them."

"It's no trouble," he tried to reassure her.

"Really. In all honesty, it would be easier for me if you just found a mat or something similar for him to sleep on. I have a feeling he'll want to sleep with me most nights and it'll be easier for me if I don't have to get up to get him out of a crib." Aisamu began to squirm slightly in her arms and she tried to get a better hold him. When both Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at him, he hid his face in his mothers' hair and peeked through it at them shyly. Toshiro only had eyes for Momo though.

"Let's go," he ordered her, gruffly.

"Hang on for a minute," she said with exasperation. "I need to get Aisamu before you drag me to my cell."

"You can't bring him!" Toshiro sounded outraged.

"Yes, I can and I will. Orihime isn't allowed to bring him with her and when she can't watch him then I will be so you better get used to him, Captain Hitsugaya."

All she had done was called him by his proper title, but everyone in the room knew what it really meant. They were no longer childhood friends in her eyes. There was going to be a certain distance there, whether the child prodigy wanted it or not. His eyes tightened but he nodded. "Fine. Grab the kid and let's go."

Momo rolled her eyes but walked over to Orihime. "Come here sweetie. You get to hang out with me for awhile."

Aisam gripped his mother even tighter and shook his head. "No! Mama!"

"Mama will be right back," Momo told him, trying to unlock his arms from around Orihime's neck.

"No!" He cried, trying his best to shake her off him without letting go.

"Aisamu," his mother said, softly but firmly. "You need to go with Momo. I will be right back, I promise. I'm just going home to grab some our clothes and some of your things. Don't you want your toys? And your blankie?"

Aisamu still hesitated to let her go. He was scared that if he let her go, she wouldn't come back to him.

She knew what he was scared about, she could see it in his eyes. "Look at me." He refused to lift his head, keeping his face cuddled in her neck. Her hand came up and gently cupped his neck and head, forcing his head up and looking into his eyes. "Hey," she said softly with a loving smile. "Listen to me: I will be back. I promise. I'm just going to go get some things and then I will be right back. Okay? I promise I will come back."

He sniffled and nodded his head. She smiled through the ache in her chest that his sadness had caused her. An idea came to her and she let go of his head and reached up to grab her hairpins. Gently pulling them out of her hair, she handed them to her son. He just stared at them and then at her for a moment before releasing one arm from around her neck and carefully grabbing them in his small hand.

"I want you to hold onto those for me until I get back, alright?" She smiled brightly at his obvious shock. He might not have understood everything going on around him and everything that was said to him but he knew that those shiny blue things were very important to his mama. "Will you take care of those for me?" she asked.

He nodded solemnly at her and held them close to his heart. She gave him a huge grin that he automatically returned. "Thank you! Now, you watch Momo for me while I'm gone, okay? Don't let her get into any trouble."

"'Kay." He was still grinning and went willingly to Momo.

Momo smiled at him and then looked at Orihime. "Be careful and come back soon."

Orihime could tell she was worried and smiled brightly at her. "Don't worry about me! I will be a-okay!"

Momo just looked at her and then turned to Toshiro. "Alright, let's go before I give myself a panic attack."

Toshiro nodded and then turned and walked out without a word to anyone. Momo rolled her eyes again and muttered, "Great. Love hanging out with uptight drama queens with height issues. Love it so much." And then she raced after him, making sure Aisamu's face was hidden in her neck.

Moments after they left, Lieutenants Abari and Ise flash-stepped into the room. "You sent for us Cap-" Ise started to say but then froze at the sight of Orihime. "Orihime Inoue?" she gasped.

Renji did a dramatic double-take. "Orihime?!" He looked closer at her. "Orihime! Oh my god it really is you!" He raced over to her. "We've been looking everywhere for you! Where the hell have you been?"

She instinctively shied away from the tall man talking loudly in her face. Kyoraku saw her discomfort and stepped over, throwing an arm around Renji and pulling him back slightly. "Now now Renji, don't go scaring the poor girl."

Lieutenant Ise, quickly getting over her shock, asked her Captain "Why were we summoned?"

Kyoraku looked at Renji, confused. "Didn't your Captain tell you?"

Renji shook his head and scowled. "Of course not. Just showed up, ordered me here, and then left again without saying another word."

Ukitake just laughed. "That's Byakuya for you."

Kyoraku gave a lazy grin. "You two were summoned to escort Ms. Inoue back to the World of the Living to get some of her things and then bring her back." At Renji's questioning look he elaborated. "She'll be staying with us for an undetermined amount of time so the Head Captain has allowed her to go back and get some of her things."

"And she needs both of us?" Ise asked, a bit skeptical. Why on earth would two lieutenants be required to escort one girl?

"Yes," said Ukitake. "I know it seems like a bit much but orders are orders."

She nodded at him. "Yes, sir."

"That's my girl!" Kyoraku crowed proudly, throwing an arm around Ise. She elbowed him roughly in the ribs and he doubled over.

Renji, still looking bewildered, cleared his throat. "So, shall we go?" he asked, trying to spare the old Captain any more pain at the hands of his lieutenant.

Ise stepped away from her Captain and nodded. "Let's go."

Orihime smiled nervously at Renji. "Well, I guess you're going to get to answer your own question firsthand on where I've been. Hope it's not too much of a disappointment."


	5. Chapter 4

**Here we are again! And wow, totally shocked when I woke up the next morning after posting Chapter 3 and found a ton of reviews! I was also shocked at being told that some people don't like Hitsuhina. What?! What is that? I love most of the Hitsuhina stories I've read. I personally don't like HitsuRan or whatever. Those are just weird. I really can't picture it. And there were some concerns about Hinamori's treatment of Hitsugaya. Don't worry, all will be explained. She's not acting that way just for the heck of it. Anyways, on we go with the story. At the end, there's another question I was hoping people would answer and I would appreciate any and all responses!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

Chapter 4

Momo didn't know what to do with herself. She couldn't remember a time she had been in a more awkward situation. She was in Toshiro's office. He was sitting at his desk staring directly at her while she was sitting on the couch with Aisamu doing her best not to meet his eyes. She hated this. She _hated_ this. She hated that she had to act like this. She hated that it had to be like this. Hadn't she hurt him enough? That's why she was doing this though. She had hurt him enough to last one lifetime and if she let him back in, she would end up hurting him more, that she was sure of. It was better to keep him as far away from her as possible. All she would do was cause him more pain.

Momo hated that she was being _that _girl. The one who decided what was best for the boy and not really giving him a say in the matter. Really, what right did she have to decide what was best for someone else? Whenever she looked at him though, all she saw was the look on his face when she accused him of killing Aizen, when she'd attacked him, and then that look morphed into the one he had when Aizen tricked him into stabbing her. He had looked like his world was falling apart. She could still hear his scream after he'd realized what he'd done. Momo couldn't even imagine the look on his face when he learned about what was happening now, what she'd done…

The feel of Aisamu struggling to get down from her lap brought her back to the present. Wondering what he was doing, she let him climb off her lap and watched as he toddled over to Toshiro. He stopped right next to his chair and waited for the white-haired Captain to acknowledge him. Toshiro ignored him and kept staring at Momo. Momo watched in amusement as Aisamu gave Toshiro his version of an angry look and smacked his leg. Toshiro tore his eyes away from her to give the small boy a glare.

"What?" he snapped.

Aisamu glowered right back at him for a moment before his face brightened. "Hi."

That was not what the young captain had expected. He gave Aisamu an odd look before turning away. Aisamu smacked him again and said, "Hi, Shiro."

That made Toshiro start. "What did you call me?"

Aisamu just smiled and it made Toshiro's eye twitch. He just looked so much like Aizen. Momo could tell that he was about to lose his temper and quickly intervened. "He's can't say full names yet. He doesn't mean anything by it."

Toshiro glared at her. "You're saying you didn't tell him to call me by that ridiculous nickname?"

She glared right back. "Of course not. You've been with us the entire time so unless you're arrogant enough to believe that I spent my time away teaching him to call you that, which would be way more trouble than it's worth seeing as how I never planned on you two meeting, then yeah, he's calling you that because he can't say your proper name. And don't try to teach him to call you Captain Hitsugaya. It's not going to work."

He just glared at her but didn't say anything and finally stopped staring at her, turning instead to some papers stacked on his desk. In fact, she had told Aisamu that his name was Shiro when Aisamu had found her photo album full of pictures from the Soul Society a few months ago. She was surprised he still remembered the name and the face that went with it but she knew she shouldn't be. Aisamu was smarter than the average 18 month old. It was obvious to both her and Orihime that he saw and understood more than he said, though that may have been because he couldn't say a whole lot. While his mind might have been highly developed his body was still that of a one year old and his speech was limited by his small body's capabilities.

Even though he had stopped glaring at her, Momo still felt uncomfortable. The atmosphere was stifling and she felt like she couldn't breathe. It was so hard to be right by Toshiro and not be able to talk to him or to hear him tell her that it's 'Captain Hitsugaya'. She knew she couldn't let him in or more accurately, she couldn't let herself be allowed back into his life. Not just because of what she had done when Aizen happened, but also because of what she had done while she was away. Ignorance wasn't an excuse and once everyone understood what was going on, what she had done, the backlash would be even worse than how she had been treated after Aizen.

Momo's chest began to tighten and her breathing grew shallow. She was about to have another panic attack. She had had quite a few of them a few months after Aisamu had been born. He had started looking so much like Aizen that it had been almost impossible to be around him. The first few times she had tried to spend time with him she hadn't been able to breathe. The fear and shame had been so overwhelming that it caused her to start having these attacks. They had gone away after a few months, once she had accepted that Aisamu wasn't Aizen and she needed to see them as two separate people.

She had to get out of the room. She had to leave now, before she forgot herself and did the one thing she couldn't allow herself to do anymore. Momo shot out of her seat and walked quickly over to the doors leading out into the courtyard.

"Where are you going?" Toshiro asked, also getting up from his seat.

"Out."

"The Head Captain ordered that you remain hidden and that knowledge of presence here not be-"

"Well then I suggest you order your men to stay inside and keep away from the windows."

Momo pulled the door open and sensed rather than saw Aisamu toddle after her, clutching a small blanket that Rangiku probably kept in the office for her naps. She bent down to his level and watched as he tossed the blanket over his head and then held out his arms to her. He looked like a light blue ghost. The tightness in her chest eased and she found herself smiling at him. He was such a smart boy, somehow understanding that he had to stay hidden. It made her sad to realize that he was smart enough to understand things like that because before too long he would understand that no one here liked him. She just hoped her and Orihime were enough to shield him from the worst of it.

Pushing those thoughts from her mind, Momo swiftly scooped Aisamu up into her arms and began to spin him around, the ends of the blankets fluttering around him. He was shrieking with laughter and Momo had just started to laugh too when the door to Toshiro's office burst open.

"Captain!" cried a tall, panting, strawberry-blond haired woman.

"What is it now, Rangiku?" he asked wearily.

"Is it true? Is Momo-" she broke off at the sight of the subject of her thoughts.

"MOMO?!"

She winced at Rangiku's shriek and she felt Aisamu flinch when he felt her tense up. Momo held him protectively to her chest, though she knew that, in all honesty, keeping the blanket over his head was doing more to protect him at the moment then she was.

"MOMO! YOU'RE BACK!" Rangiku shrieked as she raced towards her but then froze when she saw Momo take a small step back, looking like she would have loved nothing more than to run off as fast as she could.

"Momo?" Rangiku was confused. When she had imagined what it would be like once Momo had been rescued from whatever hell-hole she had been stuck in, it had never once crossed her mind that she would come back feeling anything but happiness and relief. The look on her face showed that neither emotion was present at that moment.

"Yep. It's me." _Unfortunately._

Rangiku paused for a moment before she began firing questions off at Momo. "Where have you been? Who took you? Are you alright? Do you remember who we are? Why do you look so upset? And what on earth is that thing in your arms?"

Momo took a deep breath. She could do this. She could totally do this. And then Aisamu took the blanket off his head, unable to resist the urge to see what was making the horrible noise that was making his head hurt.

Rangiku stared at the small boy that could only be Aizen's son. Then she looked up at Momo. "Oh my god," she murmured and Momo knew that this was the calm before the storm. She was totally mistaken. There was no way in hell she could do this. Momo prayed that Orihime was having an easier time than she was.

(break/break/break/break/break)

Orihime didn't think she could do this. She knew she was supposed to be strong and not show any emotions at all but she could feel herself beginning to panic.

They were in the Senkaimon. She didn't think it would be like this. It hadn't felt like this on the way in, although she had been tied up and escorted by a large group of powerful Soul Reapers and now it was just her and two other Soul Reapers. Just like that other time…

Orihime could almost feel herself being transported back in time. She expected a garganta to open up and Ulqiuorra to appear and cut down her escorts. But that wasn't going to happen; she knew that. Because he was dead and that was a fact that still haunted her. She knew it shouldn't matter, she knew she shouldn't care because he was the enemy and had kidnapped her on Aizen's orders yet she felt… she felt… she didn't know how she felt: towards him, towards what had happened, towards anything from that time.

"You okay?" Renji asked, his voice pulling her back from the past. She looked at him and smiled while nodding her head, positive that she looked like a deranged bobble-head.

"Uh-huh! Just thinking about things!" Lieutenant Ise glanced back at her.

"We're almost there," Renji reassured her and she wondered if he could tell how uncomfortable it was for her being back here.

Ise was still staring at her and it was making her feel vaguely uncomfortable. It had surprised her at first to learn that such a serious person was the most relaxed captain in the Seritei's lieutenant but she soon realized that they together created such a balanced atmosphere. She knew if Kyoraku had a lieutenant as relaxed as he was then not many things would get done in Squad 8. Orihime made sure that no emotion other than a naïve sort of happiness showed on her face under Ise's scrutiny.

Ise's brows furrowed. She obviously didn't believe Orihime's façade and was probably wondering exactly what Renji was wondering: where had she been, what she had been doing, and what was so important that she had been sent with two lieutenants to retrieve it? They were going to be in for a big shock once they reached Orihime's home, that she was positive off.

A light suddenly appeared at the end of the tunnel, showing that the end was in sight. It reminded Orihime of a saying she once heard: a pessimist wouldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel, an optimist would see one, and a realist would know that the light at the end of the tunnel was a train coming to hit him. She wondered which one she was.

"Get ready," Ise said tersely. Orihime took a deep breath.

They all stepped out into an empty back alley leading to a crowded street. Renji studied the alleyway. "Where are we?" he asked.

Orihime strode towards the street. "We're in London, England."

Ise and Renji hurried after her and walked close behind her as they walked down the street and then turned right at the corner. "London?" Renji asked dumbly. "England? Why are we here?"

Orihime smiled wryly. "Because this is where I live, or lived I should say. Not sure if I'll ever come back here after today." Did their captains really not tell them anything?

"What do you mean? You're not staying in the Soul Society forever." Renji tried to comfort her, although Orihime wasn't upset at that moment.

"You'll find out why in a minute."

Ise's suspicion skyrocketed. What exactly was waiting for them back at Orihime's house?

After another minute of walking they arrived at a large, white stoned building. Orihime dug a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. They followed her inside and passed an elevator towards a staircase. Two flights of stairs later they were in front of apartment door 3A and Orihime unlocked the door and let them all in.

She didn't even pause and instead just walked down the hallway to one of the doors on the right, leaving Renji and Ise to look around the apartment on their own. Renji, being Renji, went to fridge. Ise, on the other hand, walked slowly into Orihime's living room and over to the fireplace mantel, glancing at the pictures set there. One was of a younger Orihime and an older brown-haired man, her older brother Ise assumed. Another was of…

Ise froze. "What the hell?"

"Did you say something?" Renji called from the kitchen as Ise snapped up the picture. She didn't respond; she was too stunned by what she was looking at.

Ise's mind was processing things as fast as she could but things just weren't making sense and yet, they also were making a horrible sort of sense. It was a picture of Orihime and Momo. Momo, who had gone missing just weeks after Aizen had been defeated. Who everyone had been desperately searching for, yet could find no sign of. That wasn't the most surprising thing though. The thing that shocked her the most was the small boy being held between the two girls. A boy who looked exactly like Aizen.

"Told you things would make sense," came Orihime's voice from the entryway to the hall.

Ise whirled around to face her and Orihime just stared calmly back at her. "The reason you don't think you'll ever come back here…" she trailed off.

"Yep! The Soul Society isn't going to let someone they think could be a threat run off."

"Is he yours or Momo's?" Ise was starting to pull herself together and she had several questions she needed to have answered immediately.

"Technically? He's mine. But both Momo and I have raised him and she's as much his mother as I am."

"Are you the reason she left?"

Orihime's eyes hardened slightly. "If you're asking if I somehow forced her to come with me then the answer is no. She found out that I was pregnant before I even knew and she chose on her own to come with me, despite knowing everything."

"You mean you told her this was Aizen's child? So you used her feelings towards Aizen to get her to help you." Before this development, Ise had never thought of Orihime as being manipulative but knowing that she was the mother of Aizen's child changed things.

Orihime's face fell. "Look, I understand why you would think that I'm somehow using Momo but I swear to you I'm not. I was 15 and pregnant. I had no one to turn to because I knew if I went to the Soul Society they would kill my baby and I couldn't go to any of my friends because they would probably suggest I go to the Soul Society. And also… I couldn't do that to them. They had been through so much with Aizen and in Hueco Mundo and I just… I couldn't put them through anymore. Ichigo, Uryu, Chad… they had helped me so much. How could I ask for anymore from them? I knew they wouldn't think of it like that, that they'd want to help me and do what's best for me, but that was part of the reason why I left. They had stopped asking me what I wanted to do a while before and had just started telling me what I should do. They were always doing what was best for me without asking me if that's what I wanted. If they had thought that an abortion would be what was best for me, then they would have made me have one. I couldn't take that chance. I was going to leave no matter what and when Momo offered to come with me I couldn't turn her down. Having someone who knew everything but who still wanted to help me was too good to pass up."

Ise studied Orihime as she spoke. She seemed to be sincere and Ise could understand her logic; it would be difficult to be in a situation like that on her own. Also, from what she knew of Orihime, not telling her friends because she didn't want to feel like she was bothering them was very like her to do. Something that she said had bothered her though.

"Do you really feel like your friends would have forced you to have an abortion whether you wanted on or not?"

Orihime looked sad and she shook her head slowly. "I honestly don't know. I was just feeling so overwhelmed and my emotions were all over the place. At the time, I thought that they might. My friends were very protective of me and, when it came to matters involving my own life and health, not very trusting of my judgment. I also knew that they would be even more protective after the whole thing with Aizen and I just couldn't risk it. I couldn't risk anything happening to my baby."

"But how could you stand to have it? After everything Aizen did to you, how could you even stomach the idea of having his child?" Ise felt nauseated at the thought of it. She wondered how Momo could have stood by Orihime smiling like she was in the photo while knowing that the child she was holding was the son of the man who had tried to take everything from her.

"You can't judge a child by the actions of their parents," Orihime said softly, gazing at the picture. "If you did, then all I'd be known as is the daughter of a drunkard and a prostitute. And that's not really how I want to be seen."

Thing were starting to make more sense to Ise now. Orihime had run away because she was pregnant and feared for the safety of her unborn child due to the reactions of her friends and allies. Orihime wasn't a murderer and could not condone the killing of an innocent. Because of her own personality, Orihime believed that a child wasn't like their parents just because they share the same blood. Just because Aizen was the boys sire did not mean that he was going to be like him, at least in the eyes of the young human. While Ise may not have agreed with her reasoning it at least made sense. The only thing she couldn't understand was how Momo fit into all of this. She knew that the only person who would be able to answer her questions though was Momo herself.

"Please, Lieutenant Ise," Orihime whispered softly. "Don't decide things just yet. Give us a chance. He's just a baby. He's nothing like Aizen. It only takes spending time with him once for you to realize that. Please."

Ise saw the utter exhaustion in her eyes and knew that, for now at least, she deserved to be given the benefit of the doubt. The Soul Society had turned their backs on her once before and look what had happened. They couldn't afford to make the same mistake without gathering more evidence. After all, they had all learned the hard way that looks could be deceiving.

"It's Nanao," she told her. At Orihime's confused look she smiled slightly and said, "My name is Nanao Ise. Since I get the feeling were going to be seeing each other quite often you might as well use my name. Lieutenant Ise is quite a mouthful after all."

Orihime blinked at her and then smiled. "Okay! And you can call me Orihime! But I guess you already knew you could since you've been calling me that. Which is okay! You should be calling me Orihime because that is my name after all and you should call people by their names because if you didn't it'd be super confusing! You'd be trying to get someone's attention and if you didn't say their name and was just like 'Hey you!' then no one would know who you were talking too and then everyone would wonder if you were talking to them and it would just be a huge mess!"

Nanao could only stare at her and decided that, if the boy really didn't take on after Aizen and was more like his mother, the Soul Society would have nothing to be worried about.

"Hey," said Renji, coming into the living room while eating a sandwich, "Are you done yet?"

Orihime gasped. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, slapping herself on the forehead. "I need to finish packing!" She raced out of the room and back down the hall.

Renji walked over to Nanao. "What's that?" He nodded his head toward the frame in her hand.

She set it face down on the table. "Just a photo. Did you finish cleaning out her refrigerator?" she asked in an effort to distract him from trying to look at the photo.

"What? Oh, uhh…" he looked slightly embarrassed.

Nanao just shook her head and turned to follow Orihime's path down the hallway. She found her rummaging through the dresser in what was obviously her son's room. The room had white walls expect for a green and a blue stripe painted about 3/4ths of the way back. He had a wooden crib and toy box, although most of the toys seemed to be strewn around the room. A large duffle bag was open on the floor and Nanao watched as Orihime tossed clothes into the bag behind her before walking over to the crib and reaching down to pull out a blanket and some stuffed animals which she also placed in the duffle bag.

"Can I help with anything?" Orihime looked up and smiled at her.

"Oh no! I just need to finish packing Sammy's things and then go get Momo's and some of my clothes."

Nanao was slightly confused. "Sammy? Is that what you named your son?"

Orihime blushed and gave a small laugh. "No, his name is Aisamu but since we're living in an English speaking country we decided to give him a nickname that was easier for people to remember and say here."

"Oh." That made sense.

Orihime left the room and Nanao heard her opening one of the other doors. Instead of following her, she went back into the living room to check on Renji. She found him sitting on the couch with a magazine in his hand. "What is this crap? You can't even read this!"

"It's in English, Renji. It's your own fault you can't read it. You chose not to take any language classes in the Academy."

"You know I suck when it comes to things like that."

"You mean when it comes to things that don't involve swinging a sword?"

"Exactly."

They heard a crashing sound and Orihime going "Whoops!"

Renji and Nanao were in the hallway less than a moment later and found Orihime on the ground, the straps of the three bags she was trying to carry tangled around her legs. Orihime looked up and them and said, "I fell."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that out for ourselves," said Renji, leaning down and untangling the straps before picking up two of the bags and starting back down the hallway.

"What are you doing?" called Orihime.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm carrying your bags for you." Orihime felt a pang in her heart. He'd sounded so much like Ichigo when he'd said that. She quickly shook her head, trying to dislodge that thought. It had been so long since she had thought of him, since she'd thought of any of them.

"Orihime?" said Nanao's voice from right beside her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" was her chipper response. Nanao didn't look convinced but she didn't say anything and Orihime got up and grabbed the last bag off the floor.

"Is that everything you need?"

Orihime thought for a moment and then her face lit up. "There is one last thing!"

She raced down the hall after Renji and went over to the entertainment center in the living room. She opened the cupboard under the T.V. and pulled out a box and several books. She unzipped the bag she was holding and shoved everything into it before zipping it back up.

"Now can we go?" asked Renji impatiently by the front door.

"Yep! Right after I call my boss, Momo's boss, and Aisamu's daycare!"

Renji looked confused. "Momo has a job? And who's Aisamu?"

Orihime didn't answer, just went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. Nanao and Renji were quiet while Orihime was on the phone. Renji couldn't understand much of what she was saying but Nanao, who understood English, knew that Orihime had just called her boss and told him that she would be unable to work for undetermined length of time due to a family emergency. Afterwards she called someone who Nanao was guessing was Momo's boss, although for some reason she was telling them that JJ would be unable to attend work. Then she called Aisamu's daycare before walking back into the room.

"Okay! I'm done!"

"What was that all about?" Renji demanded. "Who were you all calling?"

"I told you, I had to call my work, Momo's work, and Aisamu's daycare."

"Where do you and Momo even work? And who the hell is Aisamu?"

"Well, I work at a bakery, Momo works for the government, and Aisamu is-"

"Momo works for the government?!" Renji shouted.

"Yeah, why?" Orihime didn't get what his reaction was all about. What was the big deal?

"Why were you calling her JJ on the phone?" Nanao interrupted.

"Oh, well, when we moved here we took different names, you know, to make it harder to find us. Momo took the name Jasmine Aneira which someone how got shortened to JJ. I took the name Sabrina!" Orihime was smiling and talking as if taking different names was the most normal thing in the world.

Nanao was curious. "What made you take those names?"

"I took the name Sabrina because that means 'legendary princess' which is close to what my name means and Momo took Jasmine because, besides that it's the name of a flower, it means that you're courageous, inventive, honest, and determined while Aneira means snow. Isn't it pretty?"

"Snow, huh?" Renji grinned at that.

"Yeah. Why?"

Nanao could tell that Orihime didn't understand what Renji was trying to get at so she interrupted. "Since you have everything you need it's time to go. Our orders were to take you home, let you do what you need to do, and go back to the Soul Society as soon as possible."

"Okay," Orihime agreed softly and walked over to the door. Renji, still holding the other two bags, opened the door for her and he and Nanao followed her out. Once they exited the building Nanao quickly opened up another portal and ushered Orihime into the Senkaimon once again. The memories didn't affect her as badly this time and she thought that maybe, just maybe, things weren't going to be that bad. They would go back to the Soul Society, everyone would realize that Aisamu wasn't dangerous, and then they would all go back to their lives. Once they exited the Senkaimon though, she realized how naïve she was being. Things were never that simple for her and the idea that she could ever catch a break was laughable. She didn't feel like laughing now though.

Orihime had frozen a few steps outside the gate and Renji, who had not been paying attention, ran right into her. Both of them dropped their bags as they stumbled.

"What the…" he started to ask but trailed off as he saw what had made her stop. Nanao's eyes widened as well and she glanced at Orihime, who had pale.

Standing only 10 feet in front of them was Yasutora Sado, _Uryū Ishida, Rukia Kuchiki, and Ichigo Kurosaki._

_Aww fudge!_

**Whew! That was a lot! Now, my next question for you lovely readers is: would you have done the same thing as Orihime or would you have told Ichigo and friends and/or the Soul Society? Would you have gotten an abortion or would you have kept the baby? And if you were Ichigo or Rukia or whoever, would you have told Orihime to keep the baby and helped her with him or would you have wanted her to get rid of it, either through abortion or giving him to the Soul Society after he was born. Think about it and let me know! THERE WILL BE NO JUDGEMENTS FOR YOUR ANSWERS! I just want to know what different people are thinking. Stay tuned for more!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, guess whose back! Sorry this has taken so long. This chapter was just not flowing the way I wanted it too. Hopefully it isn't too awful! That combined with crappy internet, graduation, and a ton of work and college crap has made my life unusually busy and kept me from finishing this chapter. But it is finally done and totally not edited because I didn't want to waste anymore time so please ignore any mistakes you see because I'm sure there are quite a few. Have at it and enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Orihime stared at her former friends. She knew, she _knew, _that she would have to see them again. She had known from the start that she wouldn't be able to escape them, though she had honestly expected them to find her sooner. The fact that they hadn't made her think that maybe they hadn't tried that hard to find her. That maybe they didn't want to find her. She had so many questions she wanted to ask them, but no real intention of finding their answers. That part of her life was in the past and it needed to stay there. She knew they would still expect and want her to be the girl she used to be and she had no intention of letting herself go back to being that person.

They all just stood there, staring at each other. Finally, Ichigo broke away from the others and asked, in unusually soft tone, "Orihime?"

She flinched slightly and stepped back, bumping into Nanao. Ichigo froze, looking slightly hurt.

"Orihime," he called, slightly louder. "It's me. Ichigo. Remember?"

She glanced back at the people standing behind him. Orihime could tell by the looks on their faces that they thought that she might have had some sort of memory loss. They all looked like they were feeling happy at her return, upset that she had left at all, and, worst of all, hopeful. They all had hopeful looks on their faces and she knew she needed to kill that hope immediately. This was not going to be a happy reunion. She was not going to run into their arms and cry and tell them all how much she missed them. Orihime had walked away from them two years ago and she had no intention of going back.

"Orihime?" called Rukia now, stepping forward to stand beside Ichigo. "Orihime, it's us. We're here now. Everything's going to be okay."

Those words were all that was needed to force Orihime into action. She took a deep breath and thought about Momo and how she was probably also being forced to do this with Toshiro. If she could be cruel to him in order to keep him away from her then she could do the same to her old friends. "Okay? Really? How is your being here going to make me being dragged from my home and forced to stay here okay?"

Ichigo's brow furrowed and he gave his usual scowl. Orihime felt better now. She knew this Ichigo. She could deal with this Ichigo.

"What are you talking about? You aren't being forced. The Soul Society saved you."

She laughed, but it wasn't her normal laugh filled with happiness. Now it was sarcastic, almost cynical. "Wow Ichigo, you're still as naïve as ever." She took a step forward. "Saved me? Who told you that? Nobody saved me because I didn't need to be rescued. I was perfectly fine, just innocently walking down the street, when a couple of Soul Reapers grabbed me and dragged me to the Soul Society. I wasn't in trouble, I hadn't been taken, and I didn't need saved."

Everyone looked shocked by her words and Ichigo's jaw clenched stubbornly. "Yes, you did. I know you. You wouldn't have just left willingly without saying goodbye."

Orihime felt like she was going to vomit. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to talk to them. She had never been good with confrontations and this was the one she had been dreading the most. There was nothing she could do though. This had to be done and it had to be done in a way that went against everything she stood for, otherwise they would never leave her alone. She knew she couldn't tell them in a nice way, she could be her normal bubbly self because if she was they would just ignore her words. She had to prove that, to them at least, she was no longer that stupid girl who always needed saving.

"I did walk away without saying goodbye. I choose to leave on my own; no one forced me. You need to accept that, Ichigo. Just because you don't want to acknowledge it, doesn't mean that it isn't true." Renji and Nanao were still standing behind her and she could sense Renji's growing unease at the situation. Orihime wondered if he had been the one to tell Rukia that she was back or if her brother had.

She studied her friends, considering the changes in their physical appearances since she had last seen them. Ichigo had grown a few inches and he had filled out more in his chest and arms. His hair had also grown longer and shaggier, not quite as long as it had been once he had finished his training for the final Getsuga Tensho but still longer than it had been when she had left. Uryu had also grown taller and he had changed how he parted his hair. He was still just as wirey in his build as before though. Chad hadn't changed much as all though; still as big and imposing as before but she saw that he now seemed to have started growing facial hair.

Orihime's eyes finally locked with Rukia. She seemed a lot different than before. Her eyes seemed to hold a calmness that Orihime was sure had come from being around her brother more. Rukia's hair was shorter but that seemed to be the only change. A white band on her arm caught her attention and after looking closer at it, Orihime realized what it was. Her heart dropped. _No, _she thought, _This cannot be happening. _

It was clear to her now why Momo hadn't wanted Captain Ukitake's lieutenant to go with her. She must have somehow known that Rukia was his lieutenant. The idea had never even occurred to Orihime because she had always assumed that Byakuya wouldn't allow Rukia to be put in a potentially high-risk situation. This was going to be bad.

Orihime and Aisamu were going to staying with Captain Ukitake while they were in the Soul Society. They were not allowed to go out without a captain-class Soul Reaper with her. And since she doubted Ukitake would be able to stay with them at all times, that meant that she would be forced to be around Rukia quite a bit.

She was even more grateful towards Momo now. Momo had always seemed to understand Orihime better than almost anyone else. She had known that Orihime wouldn't want Rukia to go back to the World of the Living with her; she wouldn't have wanted to spend so much time in close proximity to Rukia so soon after this whole event happened. She wondered if Rukia knew about Aisamu since she was sure that it had been Ukitake who had told her that she was back and not Byakuya or Renji. From the confused but caring look on her face, Orihime guessed that she still had no clue. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be feeling the same way towards her after she found out.

"Why, Orihime?" Rukia asked softly. "Why did you leave?"

Before, that tone would have wracked Orihime with guilt but now it had no effect on her. She didn't leave for her sake so she couldn't regret her actions.

"Orihime?" she called again, stepping forward.

"I left," Orihime finally answered, "Because there wasn't a good enough reason to stay. And because I didn't want to." She looked past Rukia and looked Ichigo in the eyes. "I left because I wanted to and there was no one and nothing stopping me."

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo clenched his fists. "What do you mean there was no one and nothing stopping you? What, did your friends all of the sudden just mean nothing to you?"

"That's not what I meant," Orihime said as she let out a frustrated sigh. This was going to be bad…

"Then tell me what you meant?" Ichigo demanded.

"Don't yell at her," said Uryū. His voice made her chest tighten. It had been so long since she had last heard him and she had missed him.

"Hi, Uryū," she called out softly. He turned to look at her and for a moment she was scared he too would become angry with her. Her fears were unfounded.

"Hello, Orihime. I hope you've been well."

She smiled a genuine smile at him and Uryu seemed to visibly relax. She was really here. She was really okay. "I'm great! Well, I mean, I was great. And then I came here and then I was less great but you know… YOLO."

"What?" Uryu was faintly amused.

"What? What is it?"

"What is YOLO?"

Orihime gasped. "You haven't heard YOLO? It means, You Only Live Once. Get it? You only have one life to live and then you're dead and it's all over. Except it's not, I guess, because you go the Soul Society and you're living here so I guess it should be YOLT; You Only Live Twice. But what if you're a hollow and then a Soul Reaper kills you and your soul is cleansed and sent to the Soul Society cause that would be like you died three times so would that made it You Only Live Thrice because saying three times would be gross."

"Okay, you need to stop that like right now. Just… just stop. It's… it's… I don't even know what it is but it needs to go and die somewhere far away where no one will ever find it." Everyone looked to the side to see Momo standing there shaking her head and smiling in exasperated amusement at Orihime's thought process.

"But that doesn't make sense, Momo!" Orihime exclaimed.

"Neither does some of what comes out of your mouth but I don't tell you that."

"You just did!"

"No I didn't. I told you to stop not that it didn't make sense. Although, it was getting to the point where it wasn't."

Suddenly, a head popped up from behind Momo's back and was peering over her shoulder. "Mama!" shouted Aisamu, desperately wiggling around to try and get off Momo's back.

"What the…?!" Orihime heard Ichigo shout and from the corner of her eye she saw him and Rukia both seemingly automatically gripping the handles of their swords. She heard Renji strangled voice from beside her.

"Momo?"

"Hey, Renji. How's it going?" Momo asked with a smile on her face but her eyes were hard. Orihime guessed that things had not gone well with Toshiro.

"Is that…" Renji obviously struggled for words.

"So, that must be Aisamu," Nanao interrupted once she realized Renji wasn't going to be able to ask his questions anytime soon.

"Yep! That's my son!" Orihime grinned at Aisamu, who had started trying to slither down Momo's back.

"Your son?" Ichigo asked shocked. "You have a son?"

"Is that why you left?" Rukia started towards Orihime.

Orihime swallowed. She decided to be honest. "Somewhat…"

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Rukia asked softly, stopping right in front of Orihime. "We would have helped you with it."

Orihime stared at her. "Helped with it?"

"Yeah," Rukia said with the same gentle tone. "We would have made sure you didn't have to go through that. We would have helped you get rid of it."

Orihime felt like a piece of her heart shattered. All those buried hopes and wishes had just been smashed to pieces. She had called her son an _it. _Like he wasn't even a person. She would have helped her get rid of it? She would have wanted her to get rid of her son. Rukia probably would have made her get rid of her son. All of the worst scenarios that had run through her mind at that time would have happened. She stepped away from Rukia.

"Orihime?" Rukia reached out a hand to her. Orihime smacked it away and the shock was evident on everyone's faces, except for Momo.

Orihime walked away from the group and over to Momo. Aisamu had managed to get down and had started racing towards her. He tripped over his feet and Orihime caught him before he fell.

"Mama!" He wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.

"Hey baby. Miss me?"

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked, looking like he was going to be sick.

Orihime didn't look at him. "I'm hugging my son."

"And if you have a problem with that," added Momo, "Then please feel free to leave."

"Orihime, what are you doing?" Rukia looked like she would have ripped Aisamu away from Orihime if Momo wasn't blocking the way. "That's-"

"Don't you dare," Orihime warned. "Don't you dare say anything insulting in front of _my_ son."

"Orihime, I…" Rukia hesitated, not sure what was the right thing to say.

"I thought we were friends, Rukia, but I guess I was wrong. You obviously don't know me at all if you think that I would ever take a life, especially the life of my own child. I don't care who his father is, he's my son and now that I know what kind of person you really are, the kind of person who would kill a child, I don't want you anywhere near me or my son."

"What?" Rukia gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo shouted. Aisamu flinched at the noise and Orihime felt him shaking slightly in her arms. She glared at Ichigo.

"The same goes for you. I don't want either of you near my son. I don't care what you have to say or what you think is right; this is my son and I won't let you or anyone else who wants to hurt him anywhere near him. Do you understand?"

Ichigo stared at her. He didn't understand. Why wasn't she happy to see them? And what was all that crap about her son? That was a miniature Aizen! He stared at the kid. What the heck was going on here?

"Orihime," Rukia said in that same obnoxious tone. "That's not your son." Momo winced. This was gonna be bad. "I know it's hard to understand but Aizen obviously did something to you and…"

"And what? What exactly did he do me since you seem to know so much?"

"Well," Rukia floundered for an answer.

"Exactly. You don't know anything. You don't know what happened with Aizen or even what happened before that happened so just stop."

Momo was sure that Orihime had more to say but, at that moment, Aisamu started wailing. The combination of being in an unfamiliar place, feeling tired, and sensing his moms stress seemed to be too much for him. Orihime's attention immediately shifted from the unwelcome visitors to her son and the anger in face disappeared to be replaced with a caring and loving look.

"It's okay," she cooed, bouncing him gently in his arms. "You're tired aren't you?" Aisamu nodded into her shoulder. "Aww… it's okay. We're going to go to our room and get ready for bed. And guess what? We're going to be sharing a room! You get to sleep with me! Isn't that fun?" Aisamu grinned and nodded at her. "Well, let's go!"

"Go? You can't go?" Ichigo said, taking a step forward. "We're not done here!"

"Yes, yes you are." Momo stepped in front of Orihime and Aisamu. "You came, you talked, and she made it perfectly clear she wants nothing to do with you which means that you should leave. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

A vein started to throb on Ichigo's forehead and Nanao realized that he needed to time to calm down. If this conversation continued, it was almost guaranteed to end badly and Orihime seemed almost desperate to escape by this point.

"Renji," she called out to the still stunned and silent man. "Grab Orihime's things and take them back to her rooms in Squad 13 barracks. We'll meet you there in a few minutes."

Renji stood there for a few moments longer and then gave a jerky nod and turned to grab Orihime and Aisamu's bags. Before he could grab the third bag, Momo was beside him and grabbed the handle. "I'll take this one seeing as how its mine."

She gave a small smile and Renji just stood there and stared at her. Without giving any acknowledgement to her comment or smile, he turned and left.

Momo wasn't surprised at his refusal to respond to her admittedly lame attempts at breaking the ice but it still hurt. She had known Renji for years; didn't that mean anything to him?

"We should get you all back," Nanao interrupted her thoughts. "That includes you, Momo. I'm guessing you didn't get permission to come here."

"You'd be guessing correctly," she said with a small smile. "Shiro's probably going crazy."

"You're totally right! Captain is absolutely panicking!" Momo flinched before turning to face Rangiku.

"What're you doing here?"

"Well, after you ran off, Captain sent me to find you."

"What, so now you're following orders and doing what you're told?"

Rangiku pouted and then her face brightened. "Don't be like that! I always do what I'm told." No one even tried to hide their disbelief at her words. "Plus, I sensed that Orihime was here and I had to come see her!"

She bounded over to Orihime and seemed to be about to hug her when Aisamu lifted up his head and looked at her. "No!" he shrieked. Everyone jumped.

Orihime looked at her son. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

He pointed at Rangiku and repeated, "No!"

Orihime looked over at Rangiku. "I take it you two have met?"

"They have," said Momo with a grin. "They are not each other's biggest fans though."

"I can tell." Aisamu was still glaring at Rangiku and she was glaring right back at him.

"We should be getting you to your room," Nanao stated and gently grabbed Orihime's arm.

Orihime turned to Momo. "I'll see you later?"

"Yep! I'll stop by first chance I get." Momo smiled and blew a kiss to Aisamu and then Nanao flash-stepped away.

"Alright. What the hell did you do to her?" Momo turned to look back at Ichigo.

"What makes you think I did something to her?"

"Because, other than a one year old, the only other person she's been around is you. You must have done something to her. That's not our Orihime."

"It's called parenthood, something I'm hoping you won't be experiencing for awhile."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Rukia.

"The parenthood thing or that I hope he doesn't become a parent anytime soon?"

"Both."

"Okay well I hope he doesn't become a parent anytime soon because, from what I hear, he would suck at it. It takes patience and level-headedness, two words I'm almost positive are not in his vocabulary. That's what's changed Orihime, by the way. Before she was super-concerned about making sure you all were happy and that you liked her. That doesn't matter to her anymore. All she cares about is protecting her son. You two are a threat to him and that means you're a threat to her. It doesn't matter that you all used to be friends or that you claim to have her best interests at heart because all that matters to her is the safety of her son."

"And I suppose that means you count yourself as her friend? Friends don't let friends take care of a psychopaths kid!" Ichigo was shouting again.

"That right there is what I'm talking about. You couldn't be level-headed if your life depended on it, which is ironic because it usually does. And I didn't let her do anything; she made her decisions on her own. All I did is support her in everything she does because that's what a real friend does! She chose to take care of Aisamu because she understands that you can't judge someone based on their parents."

"But it's Aizen!" Rukia argued. "He doesn't do anything without a reason!"

"You're right, he doesn't. But we don't know what that reason is. For all we know, this is what he was trying to accomplish. Maybe Aisamu is a just a tool he's using to try and divide us and if that's the case, then he's is succeeding."

"Not that this conversation is interesting," interjected Rangiku before anyone can respond. "But we really need to go. If my captain found out that I found you and then just stood around and let you have a screaming match with Kurosaki and Kuchiki he will tie me to my chair and actually make me work until I die from boredom. So bye!" And with that, she grabbed Momo's arm and they were gone.

Ichigo and Rukia stared after them. "I can't believe this happening," murmured Ichigo.

"I know," Rukia murmured. "Poor Orihime having to endure that all by herself."

"The way she was talking though was weird," Ichigo said as his eyes narrowed. "It was like she was brain-washed or something."

"Do you think it has something to do with Momo?"

"It has to. Momo's the only one who knew about it and was with her the whole time. She's somehow involved in this."

Uryu gave Ichigo disgusted look behind his back and glanced over at Chad, who was just standing there with a frown on his face. "Honestly, Ichigo," Uryu snapped.

Ichigo jumped and turned to look at him with a scowl. "What?"

"If you knew half as much as you thought you did, you would know twice as much as you actually do."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that you have to have all the facts before you can begin to assume that you know what's going on." Chad grunted in agreement with Uryu.

Ichigo looked back and forth between his two friends before his scowl grew even more pronounced. "Whatever. I'll go talk to the Captains tomorrow and see what's going on. Hopefully they know the whole story."

"You're just giving up on asking Orihime?" Chad asked in surprise.

"No, I'm just going to get an outside opinion on what's going on. If something has been done to Orihime then it'll be the Captains who know about it."

"And if nothing has been done to her? If she did everything of her own free will?" Uryu asked critically.

"She didn't. Orihime wouldn't do this. I know she wouldn't."

Uryu just looked at Ichigo and didn't say what he was thinking, which was that Ichigo didn't really know Orihime at all if he thought that she wouldn't willingly take care of an innocent baby. He wondered what would happen when he realized the truth.

**So yeah. This was not too action packed or earth shattering. I just wanted to give you guys the feel of what exactly her friends are feeling. The next chapter will show you how Orihime is really feeling about her friends being back and it will also give you more detail about Momo's confrontation with Rangiku and how Toshiro is acting around her. **

**Hope you all enjoyed and let me know what you thought! Stay tuned!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey! Been awhile, huh? Yeah… I AM SO SORRY! My computer had to be refreshed for Windows 8.1 and my copy of Word got deleted. I couldn't access any of my things until I bought another copy. Also, I started my first semester of college in August and it was an adventure at the very least. It has been a time of things just not going my way. Oh well. I have got Word back and now I am back on track! Forgive me for the wait and please accept this chapter as proof of my sorrow. And, as always, I do not own everything because Tite Kubo came up with this idea first.**

Chapter 6

Orihime quietly slid the door to her and Aisamu's room shut and then paused, listening to see if she had somehow woken him. Hearing nothing, she turned and walked to the edge of the wrap-around porch and plopped down. After a moment she felt a soft breeze ruffle her hair and she sighed. Today was _hard. _She had expected her confrontation with her old life to be difficult but it had still shocked her. Ichigo and Rukia's refusal to even give her son a chance had stung. He was just a baby and it wasn't fair that he had to suffer the stigma of being Aizen's son. She should have known that they wouldn't be reasonable though; after all, they were known for their extremes both in law and in their own personal lives. She was glad that she had gotten to see Uryu and Chad again. Orihime hadn't seen Uryu since she had been to his father for a check-up when she was first pregnant and she hadn't seen Chad since he had helped her and Momo move all of her things out of her apartment into storage. She was grateful to them for having kept her secret from Ichigo. She knew it couldn't have been easy, especially for Chad. It hadn't been fair to make them keep her secret but at the time she honestly hadn't known what else to do. She had needed to see a doctor to make sure everything was okay with the pregnancy because she didn't know what side effects there could have been with a human carrying a child whose father was as powerful as Aizen and since Uryu's father was both a Quincy and a doctor, he had seemed like her best option.

It had been a hard day but she knew that it was going to get a lot worse before it got better. The Captains may have decided to keep Aisamu hidden for now but eventually his existence would come to light and when that happened she knew that the Soul Society would try to bring their skewed view of justice down upon their heads.

She wished Momo was here. This whole thing had been so much easier to deal with because she had Momo's unconditional support. Momo had stood by her through everything: the weird cravings, the hormones, the panic attacks; all the things that went with being pregnant. But Orihime knew that she couldn't be so selfish because Momo was fighting her own demons at the moment and she would need time to deal with her issues without having to also deal with Orihime's and Aisamu's at the same time.

"Orihime?"

She turned around to see Captain Ukitake standing behind her. She smiled at him. "Hello!"

He smiled back at her and glanced around. "Where is your son?"

"He's in our room, asleep. All the action today wore him out! Which is nice, you know, that he's asleep. Usually if there's any change to his normal nightly routine he won't go to sleep for hours and I'm not sure I could keep up with all his energy tonight. Not to say that I don't like it when he's awake because I do! He so sweet and silly and I love him so much and he's so fun to play with and he's so smart too! One time, he put a whole puzzle together by himself! It was only one of those kids' puzzles with 9 pieces to it but still! For only be 18 months old that's really impressive!"

Ukitake chuckled. "Yes, it is very impressive. Considering who his parents are, though, that's not at all surprising."

Orihime flinched but tried to give him a smile. "No, I guess it's not. His biological father is quite impressive."

He studied her for a moment before responding. "It wasn't his father that I was referring to." He gestured to the empty spot next to her. "May I?"

"Oh! Of course!"

Ukitake smiled and sat down. "Thank you." It was quite for a few moments before he spoke again. "I wasn't talking about Aizen, you know. You are quite the impressive girl yourself."

"Really?" she asked with a small smile. "I don't think so. I'm just doing what I have to I guess."

"What you have to? Orihime, you've gone above and beyond! What you've done for that little boy is amazing, and it seems that you've been able to help Momo as well."

Orihime turned her body fully towards him and her eyes were cold. "That little boy is my son and I have done what any good mother would do."

Ukitake winced slightly. "That is true, but considering who his father is and everything that happened to you… it wouldn't be seen as unreasonable if you had found yourself unable to raise him the way you did."

A bitter sort of smile that Ukitake had never seen on the young girls face before appeared. "You people… you just don't get it. You look at Aisamu and you see the son of a monster, the son of the devil himself. I look at him and I see a little boy who never asked to be brought into this world or to have the parents he did. This is not his fault. He is not Aizen. He is just a child who you all are trying to find a reason to condemn to death. Last I checked, Aizen never killed children for just existing. So, what does that make you all? If Aizen is a monster and the devil, then who does that make you? The hero's? Angels of the lord? I've learned a lot during my time away about people and about how the world works and you want to know what I've realized? You're no better than Aizen and he's no worse than you. You each had things you wanted to do and both of you were and are still willing to do whatever it takes to get your way, no matter the cost."

Ukitake's whole demeanor seemed to change, harden. "Aizen was a man trying to play god. He performed cruel and unnatural experiments on innocent people and he killed for fun. Aizen was a terrible man. You of all people should know that."

Orihime shook her head so slowly. "That is so hypocritical. He performed cruel and unnatural experiments? Have you met Kurotsuchi? That man has done more cruel and unnatural things in his lifetime than Aizen has and he's still hanging around. And I of all people should understand? What's that supposed to mean?"

"He kidnapped you!"

"And you all left me there to die."

Ukitake didn't know how to respond to that. She was right. They had all just left her there to die. She was seen as collateral damage and nothing more.

"You're right," Ukitake told her softly. "We did nothing to try and help you. Despite whatever may have been said, we all knew that you were innocent; we knew you never would have betrayed your friends. But there was a war going on so…"

"You sacrificed the one for the lives of the many." She finished. "It's alright. I totally get it and I'm not holding it against you. I'm sorry if it sounds like I am. You did what you thought you had to do. But just because you think something, doesn't always mean it's right."

"I agree with you. That's why I volunteered to watch over you and Aisamu. You know how stubborn us older ones can be. What Aizen did was unforgivable and many of us still do hold grudges. It's hard for us to change our ways."

Orihime finally gave him a real smile. "You're not that old."

Ukitake laughed. "You'd be surprised. I'm a lot older than I look."

"Age is just a number. Besides, isn't it less about the number of years you've lived and more about how you lived them? After everything that's happened in my life, I definitely don't feel like I'm only 17."

"You don't act like it either."

"Well thank you for that."

Orihime glanced back up at the sky and sighed, knowing she would need to go in and get some sleep if she were to have any hope of keeping up with both the antics of the Soul Society and the ball of energy that was Aisamu.

"Would you tell me more about your life?" Ukitate asked, suddenly.

Orihime blinked at him. "My life?"

"Yes, your life. Your life after you ran away from Karakura Town," he clarified.

"Uh… okay, I guess. Well, let's see…" her brow furrowed as she tried to think up something to tell him. "Well, after Momo and I left, we decided to try and go as far away from Japan as possible. Somewhere in the United Kingdom seemed our best bet so we moved to London. It was so loud and crowded there, a lot different from home. Momo's so smart though; she picked up English so quickly and helped me learn it too. We both managed to get jobs pretty soon after we arrived there. I was working at a bakery, which was super awesome because that was something I had always wanted to do. I was really lucky that they were looking for help and this really nice older couple ran it and they didn't mind hiring a pregnant woman, even though they knew I would have to go on maternity leave after only a few months of working. They were so nice to me! And they loved Aisamu and were constantly giving him clothes and toys and they never asked about what happened with the father or why we left Japan or anything! They were really great," her face fell as she trailed off.

Ukitake felt a pang of guilt at her obvious sadness but covered it with a smile. "I'm glad you found people to help you while you were away. It's good that you weren't alone."

"Even if I hadn't met them, I still wouldn't have been alone. I would still have had Momo." Orihime replied with a small smile.

"That is true." They sat in silence for several more minutes before Ukitake finally asked, "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Not telling your friends before you left. Or maybe even leaving in the first place."

"Not even for a moment. I mean, I was sad to leave them behind and it was hard to not have them be a part of my life and for them to not be able to know Aisamu but I did what was necessary for the safety of my son and myself and I can't regret that. After the fight with Aizen was over and things had started to calm down it was obvious how hard it was for everyone to adjust. Or readjust, I should say, in Ichigo's case. Being able to see spirits and being a Soul Reaper was such a large part of his life and for it to just all go away like that was so hard for him. And while he did feel sort of sorry, I think, for Aizen towards the end he still held a large amount of resentment towards him for being the reason his spiritual powers were taken from him. It would have made things worse for him if he had found out about Aisamu. On the one hand, he was just an innocent baby. On the other hand, he was created by Aizen. It just would have been too confusing and emotionally difficult for him to handle."

"You obviously thought things through carefully," Ukitake commented, not all that surprised.

"It was a big decision, one that I knew there was no going back from. I was sure that we would eventually be caught and that everything would be different when we were brought back but it was still the best thing I could have done for my son at the time."

"It seems to me that you didn't think very highly of your friends if you thought they would turn away from you after all the hardships they faced to try and save you," Ukitake kept his eyes firmly on the moon.

"It wasn't about not thinking highly of them," Orihime sounded frustrated. "It was about knowing them well enough to realize that it would cause more harm than good for them to know. Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Uryu; they had all already sacrificed so much just to try and rescue me from Hueco Mundo. If I had told them I was pregnant, if I had told them that Aizen had done something to me and now I was carrying what was most likely going to be his child, how do you think they would have reacted? How do you think they would have felt? I did what I thought would be best for them and for me. If I had told them, they would have done what they thought was best for me but I needed to think about what would be best for Aisamu. From the moment I realized I was pregnant, he became my whole world. He's my everything." She stood up then and looked down at Ukitake.

"I'm not stupid. I know how this is all probably going to end. But I just want to make sure that you realize that I will die before I let anyone hurt my son. You will have to kill me to get to him. And I think you'll find that trying to do that is going to be a lot harder than you think it will." She turned and walked back inside her room, closing the door softly behind her. Ukitake didn't get up; he just looked back up at the stars and thought about her words and wondered what she meant by them.

(Break/break/break/break/break)

Momo was pacing back and forth across her small room, unable to even consider trying to go to sleep. It was just too weird. It was weird not knowing the Orihime and Aisamu were just across the hall. She had slept away from them before but it never seemed to get any easier.

Once Rangiku had dragged her back to the squad barracks Toshiro had wasted no time yelling at her for not following orders, for being so reckless as to go out running around the Seritei with a miniature Aizen on her back, and for several other things she didn't really remember because she had kind of tuned out by that point.

After Toshiro had exhausted his need to yell, he ordered her into a room next door to where his own bedroom was located and ordered her to stay there for the rest of night, placing several kidos around her door to ensure that she would stay there. Momo knew that she could take them down if she really wanted to but she had decided that she would continue to let him believe that those kidos would be strong enough to keep her in so that, in case an emergency happened, she could get out quicker and easier.

Momo flopped down on her futon and pulled the bag Orihime had packed over to her. She unzipped it and began to rifle through it. The top of it was filled with clothes but when she shoved those aside she found a small box. She pulled it out and then gave a small, sad smile as she saw that it was still filled with all the pictures she had taken over the last two years. Orihime had packed the one thing that she knew would bring some comfort to Momo while they were here. That wasn't surprising to Momo because, after all, Orihime always seemed to know what to do in order to keep a person's spirit up. That's what made her such a great mother; she always knew just what to do in order to keep Aisamu happy.

Momo pulled out some of pictures from the box and began flicking through them. Most of them were just shots of Aisamu doing silly things: him making a mess eating spaghetti, Aisamu making weird faces at the camera, a shot of him looking disgruntled while sitting in the bathtub with wet hair, and all the other little things that made up everyday life with the one year old. Her hand paused as she pulled out one of favorite pictures. It had been taken several months before in December at the ice-skating rink next to the Tower of London. They had gone with a couple of Momo's co-workers and one of them had taken this picture of her, Orihime, and Aisamu. They were all bundled up in coats, hats, and gloves and they were all smiling straight at the camera. Orihime was holding Aisamu in-between her and Momo and Aisamu had one gloved hand clutching at his mother's jacket while the other was behind him, gripping the collar to Momo's jacket and therefore keeping her close by. Their cheeks were all bright red from the cold and Aisamu looked like he was having the time of his life, even though he had just started to learn how to walk at that time and had to still be held for most of the day.

A tear slid down Momo's face. _It's not fair, _she thought, bitterly. _He's just a baby. He should having a whole life ahead of him. He shouldn't have to be worrying about things like the Soul Society. And I shouldn't have to be sitting here wondering if any of us are ever going to be as happy as we were that day._

Momo dropped the pictures back into the box and put her face in her hands. She knew there was a chance that the Soul Society might not kill Aisamu, a small chance but a chance nonetheless. However, she also knew that they would be digging through their past to see just what they were both up to while they were away and she knew that if they found out just what she had been doing, or maybe more accurately _who _she had been doing, things were going to go very badly very quickly.

Not that things had been going that great up to this point. She didn't think she'd ever forget the look on Rangiku's face when she had first caught site of Aisamu. There had been so much pain and anger there, and then an overwhelming amount of grief. Momo knew then that, despite whatever sort of front she was putting up, Rangiku was still not completely recovered from Gin's death. She had put on a brave face though.

_Flashback:_

_"And who is this little guy?" Rangiku asked with a strained smile as she looked at Aisamu._

_No one said anything and Aisamu just looked back at Rangiku, studying her with his big brown eyes. Rangiku visibly flinched at his gaze and Momo's grip on Aisamu tightened._

_"Well?" Rangiku turned towards her captain._

_"Rangiku, this is Aisamu Inoue. He will not be staying with us."_

_Momo had to roll her eyes at that. Stupid stubborn Shiro._

_"Inoue?" Rangiku gasped. "But I thought…"_

_"Well you thought wrong!" Toshiro snapped. "Now, get to work! You aren't being paid to just stand around and do nothing! Why I put up with your laziness is beyond me."_

_Rangiku opened her mouth, probably to give her usual excuses, when another voice interrupted her. "No Shiro!"_

_They all looked at Aisamu, eyes wide with surprise._

_"What did he say?" Toshiro asked, eyes narrowing._

_Before Momo could answer him, Aisamu spoke again. "No Shiro! Not nice!" He was giving Toshiro his most stern look and even Rangiku couldn't help smiling at him._

_Momo spoke up then before Toshiro could say anything. "We've been teaching him about the right way to talk to people. He heard what he thought was you being mean to Rangiku and was trying to tell you that it is not nice to talk to people that way."_

_"Aww!" Rangiku cried, racing forward and grabbing Aisamu so she could hold him to her chest. "That's so sweet of him to defend me like that! He's so adorable!"_

_Aisamu's little fists were waving around in the air and Momo jumped forward and grabbed him before he suffocated. Aisamu gasped and started gulping in air as fast as he could._

_"Whoops!" Rangiku giggled. "So sorry about that!"_

_Aisamu gave her a slightly fearful look before turning and hiding his face in Momo's shoulder. He seemed to be mumbling something to himself but it was in his own little language and she couldn't understand a word of it._

_"You have to tell me everything!" Rangiku exclaimed, grabbing Momo's arm and dragging her back into the office and onto the couch. "How on earth did all this happen?"_

_Toshiro groaned and rubbed the sides of his forehead. Momo would have felt some sympathy for him, but she was too busy trying to answer Rangiku's questions while at the same time trying to stop Aisamu from climbing down and trying to get as far away from Rangiku as he possibly could._

_End Flashback_

Momo had to admit that Aisamu's reaction to Rangiku was pretty funny. Since Rangiku and Orihime looked vaguely similar, she had been expecting Aisamu to take to Rangiku rather well, even if Rangiku didn't feel the same about him. She had not been expecting Aisamu to become as afraid of Rangiku as he was now. He had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay as far away from her as possible and would tell her, "No", anytime she tried to get near him. He seemed to think that she was going to try and suffocate him with her chest anytime she got near him. Aisamu had clung to Momo for most of afternoon until he had sensed Orihime's presence. He had climbed onto Momo's back and squeezed her in his excitement at his moms return. She knew that she should have waited for Orihime to come and get Aisamu but she'd felt like she couldn't stay in the same room as Rangiku's incessant questions and Toshiro's hateful glares for a moment longer so she had just grabbed Aisamu and left. Toshiro was furious with her when Rangiku had finally brought her back but she hadn't cared; she'd been too distracted by what had occurred after Ichigo and Rukia had found out about Aisamu.

Momo knew that it had hurt Orihime when she heard Rukia say that she would have helped Orihime have an abortion but she wasn't really surprised by it. She had figured that Rukia would have reacted to things the way she had and that was why she had supported Orihime's decision to keep the news from her. Ichigo's reaction had been less easy to predict. On the one hand, Aizen had almost gotten everyone he knew and loved killed, while also being the reason that Ichigo had lost his powers but on the other, Orihime was his friend. He had proved his loyalty to her when he had gone after her to Hueco Mundo; although, his quest had become significantly less impressive once she had learn that he had doubted her loyalty to them. Anyone with half a brain would know that Orihime would never purposefully betray her friends, especially not Ichigo, and it was disappointing to learn how little faith he put in the one person who loved him the most. Or at least, who had loved him the most.

Momo set the box of pictures aside and laid down on her futon. She knew she would need to rest if she wanted to be ready for tomorrow; she was going to have to be prepared for anything to happen now that Ichigo had been alerted to the fact that Orihime was back. That boy was stubborn and not at all subtle, a very bad combination in Momo's opinion. The last thing they needed was him yelling at Orihime in hearing range of an unknowing Soul Reaper about Aisamu. It was bad enough that he knew, if word got out to the rest of the Seritei then they would order for them to be instantly executed. She closed her eyes and fell into a light, uneasy sleep.

**Yeah… I'm not sure about this chapter but I thought you all deserved to read it. It's unbetaed but I feel like it's not too horrible. I don't know when I'll update again and I'm sorry about that but you all know what life is like. Let me know your thoughts!**

**Thank yous to MangaAddict300, mlsmls27, ma300, newkidzondablock, Reader-Favs, SherriexKaiser, broman2, leafpool5, SandraStar66, finnythewise, Hylla, ECYA, and dcdishy. I'm so grateful for your reviews! I will try to PM those of you who leave a comment or question so that it won't clog up the end of the chapter. Thanks again!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello to all my readers! I am so sorry for taking so long to update and I am thankful to those of you who stuck with me up till now. Life has, as usual, been rather crazy for me. The craziest thing of all is that I am currently sitting at a desk, in a room, in Denmark. That's right, I am currently living abroad. Changing cultures does tend to take a toll on ones creativity. I'm still writing though so hopefully things will start getting easier! As I've said before, I can't really give an update schedule. I wish I could but I can't force myself to write this. It isn't fair to either me or you. Thank you for your support!**

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo**

Ichigo sat on the roof of the Kuchiki estates main building looking up at the stars, trying to see if the constellations there were the same as the ones back in the World of the Living. It was nearly sunrise and he had been up for most of the night but he wasn't tired. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Orihime's betrayed face and it made him feel ill.

He wondered, not for the first time, what the hell she had been thinking running off like that. They had all been worried sick about her. After everything they had been through, after everything they had done to get her back from Aizen, how could she just take off like that without telling him? She didn't even leave a note. And now he comes to find out that she had ran off with Aizen's former lieutenant so that she could protect Aizen's kid. It just felt so… wrong. Orihime obviously loved the kid so why did she run? Was she ashamed? It wasn't her fault though and she should have realized that nobody would have blamed her so what the hell had possessed her to run like some sort of criminal?

"You're an idiot, Ichigo."

He almost fell off the roof in surprise as he heard Uryu's voice from behind him. "What's wrong with you, sneaking up on me like that?!"

"It's a shame that, while you did manage to get your powers back, you are still unable to sense a persons spiritual energy. I could have killed you and you never would have saw it coming."

"You could, but you won't."

"Not right now, at least. Although if you keep acting the way you did earlier with Orihime, I'm sure someone else would be more than willing to do that for me."

Ichigo instantly became defensive. "Well, how was I supposed to react? I thought she had been kidnapped and instead I find out that she ran off with Aizen's lieutenant to have his baby! How are able to be so calm?!"

"Because I knew," Uryu replied calmly.

"What?!" Ichigo shot to his feet.

"I knew that she was pregnant. I knew she was having a baby and I knew she was going to leave."

"YOU KNEW?! YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ANYONE?!" Ichigo's hand was on his zanpakuto and Uryu knew he was about to try and attack him.

"My father is a doctor. Orihime needed someone to make sure she and the baby were alright." Ichigo's hand tightened on the hilt of his sword before slowly releasing it.

"Why wouldn't she come to me? My dad is a doctor too, and he's a shinigami who had kids with a human so he knows how to deal with the pregnancy and birth."

Uryu was surprised by Ichigo's restraint. Normally he would have just attacked him. "Yes, but your father was busy dealing with you and she felt that she didn't have the right to be around your family."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious? You came to Hueco Mundo in order to save her and you nearly died trying. She heard about your fight once you left us and she knew you were weakened after your fight. Then, you go off to the Soul Society and manage to defeat Aizen but at the cost of you loosing your powers. Orihime feels partially responsible for you loosing your powers."

"Why the hell would she think that? Of course it's not her fault. I had to defeat Aizen, no matter the cost and I would have done the same even if she hadn't been taken."

Uryu rolled her eyes. It seemed that, while Ichigo had learned some restraint, he hadn't learned how to think critically. "Think, Ichigo! We knew that Aizen had taken Orihime, that she didn't have a choice, but he gave her a choice. Even though she knew she was going to Hueco Mundo whether she wanted to or not, she still told Ulquiorra yes when he asked her to go. She agreed to go, it was her choice, and you were hurt because of her choice. In her mind, it was all her fault."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"It doesn't matter if it makes sense to you. All that matters, is that it made sense to her. That's why she didn't come to you and that's why she didn't want you to know."

"And you didn't think I deserved to know? I looked for her everywhere! I thought she had been taken again and that it was my fault! I thought she had been kidnapped and that I couldn't save her! You knew that and you still refused to tell me the truth!"

"It wasn't my place to tell you."

Ichigo gritted his teeth. "I had the right to know, Uryu; Orihime is my friend too. I would have done everything I could to help her."

"What do you think you could have done?" Uryu snapped. "You were barely holding yourself together. I don't blame Orihime for not telling you; it was like you were barely alive for months. You didn't talk to anyone, you barely ate, you couldn't even look at any of us! Orihime was traumatized and scared and you were a shell of a person. Not to mention the fact that the Soul Society was keeping tabs on you the whole time and they were the last group she needed to have to deal with. I'm sure you can infer from Rukia's reaction alone what the Soul Society would have done had they found out."

Uryu was right and it pissed Ichigo off. "So, this whole time you knew where she was and what she was doing and you didn't say anything."

Uryu hesitated before speaking. "Not exactly. I knew that she was pregnant but I didn't know who the father was or where she had run off to."

Ichigo frowned. "If you didn't know who the father was then why didn't you tell me? You say that the reason no one told me was because they thought I'd react badly once I learned Aizen was the father but if you didn't know then that can't be the reason you didn't tell me."

"I didn't tell you because it was something Orihime had told me private. I ran into her coming out of my father's office and she ended up telling me why she was there. She begged me to keep it to myself and I agreed. Her medical and private life is no ones business but her own."

"Not when she goes missing because of it," Ichigo argued.

Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose. "I had no reason to believe that she was missing. I believed that she had left of her own free will and I was right. I thought that she didn't want to raise her child in such a spiritually rich area because of the dangers it entails."

Ichigo was getting angry again. "So you just let her go? Figured she'd be fine and left it at that? What the hell is wrong with you?! She's got no family and she ran off without any friends and you were just okay with that?! And you call yourself her friend."

"It was her decision," Uryu stated. "It's her life, Ichigo. And after how you and Rukia reacted when you found out about Aisamu, I can honestly state that I agree with her decision. It was the best one she could have made in regards to the safety of her son."

Ichigo sighed. "Look, I get it, okay? I didn't react well when I found out but can you honestly blame me? All Rukia told me was that they had found Orihime and Momo together and they were both back at the Soul Society. When I heard they had been found together I panicked, thought that someone had kidnapped them because of the Aizen thing. I didn't know that Orihime had a kid."

"And I understand that but you have to understand that your reaction didn't look well in Orihime's eyes."

"I understand." Then Ichigo frowned. "Look, I know Rukia's reaction wasn't the best but do you really think she would have tried to kill Aisamu?" That was another thing that had concerned Ichigo. He thought Rukia felt the same as he did when it came to protecting innocent lives but then she had said that when she found out about the kid; would she really have forced Orihime to have an abortion? Ichigo may not have liked what she did but he still understood why Orihime willingly gave birth to Aizen's son; she would never be able to take a life, especially not an innocent one.

"I do," Uryu sat down on the roof and Ichigo reluctantly sat next to him. "Rukia is a soldier and as such has been trained to deal with any threats with force. I'm guessing that with the Aizen fiasco, the Soul Society has been even more lethal when dealing with any possible threats so as not to have a repeat of what happened before. In her mind, killing the child is probably the only reasonable and understandable option. I fear that there we will be unable to change her opinion on the matter.

Ichigo groaned. "This whole thing just gets worse and worse. What's Aizen playing at? What was his goal with all this? Did he just want to cause trouble or is Aisamu some kind of weapon?"

"I don't know Ichigo but I suggest you be more cautious than you usually are when it comes to trying to get close to Aisamu."

"But I need to know whether or not he's a threat," Ichigo argued.

"There will be many others who will be watching him in case of that but I wouldn't recommend you trying that unless you never want to speak to Orihime again. That's her son and if you try anything with him she'll probably react with lethal force."

Ichigo snorted. "No she wouldn't, this is Orihime we're talking about. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"No," Uryu disagreed quietly. "That was the Orihime you knew. This Orihime is a mother who would do whatever it took to keep her son safe, even if it involved using lethal force."

Ichigo shook his head in denial. "No, she wouldn't. I know Orihime."

"No, you don't. You _knew_ Orihime, but that Orihime is gone. You don't know this one and the sooner you recognize and accept that the sooner you can start getting to know her again. I have a feeling that this Orihime won't be anything like the old one when it comes to her relationships with us."

(Break/break/break/break/break/break)

Momo draped herself over the couch in Toshiro's office, pulling the blanket off the top of it and covering herself from head to toe with it. Apparently, he had found it necessary to wake her up at the crack of dawn and drag her with him to the training grounds, claiming that he was "ordered to keep an eye on her at all times". Momo's response that she refused to have him stand in the bathroom with because she couldn't pee under pressure was not taken well by him either.

Normally, Momo wouldn't have minded going with him because she was curious to see how strong he had grown in the past two years; Momo didn't doubt that he had spent as much time as possible increasing his power and strength so as to be able to better protect the Sereitei. The problem was that she had not gotten much sleep the night before and loud awakening, and the following load interrogation he had tried to subject her to, hadn't done anything for her mood. More surprising, and annoying, than the Captain's early morning visit was the fact that his lieutenant had also decided to show up at the training grounds and her bubbly personality made Momo want to bang her head against something until she fell unconscious. Momo hadn't been hung-over in quite some time, helping raise a child meant staying alert at all times, but thought that her currant headache rivaled some of worst ones from previous morning after's.

"Aw, cheer up, Momo! It's going to be a great day!"

Momo pulled the blanket back far enough to glare at Rangiku. "I don't know when you became this optimistic, but I don't like it. Today is going to be a crap day and nothing you say will change that."

"Don't be such a grouch. How could today be a terrible day? Just look outside! It's so sunny and warm outside! Oh, I know! We should go to the beach!"

"We're not going to the beach," snapped Toshiro. "Don't you have paperwork you need to fill-out and hand in? I swear, none of the other lieutenants are as lazy as you."

"Don't have time to go to the beach, anyway," mumbled Momo, dropping her head back down onto the couch. "I get to spend my day being poked and prodded at by Captains Unohana and Kurotsuchi."

"They're starting to run tests on you already? But you just got here! Can't they wait a few more days?"

"The sooner they start, the sooner they can find out whether or not they give a legal reason to have us executed."

Momo could sense both Captain and Lieutenant tense at her casual tone.

"Don't talk like that," said Rangiku, her cheerful tone gone. "No one's going to execute you."

Momo rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. "Face it, this is a society that prefers to kill first and then not even bother asking questions later, just go around claiming that whatever happened was done for the good of the Soul Society. I'm surprised those Soul Reapers that captured us yesterday didn't just kill Aisamu on sight."

Rangiku and Toshiro were silent, wishing they could argue with Momo but knowing that she was right. "I'll protect you," Toshiro told her, softly. "I swear I'll keep you safe."

Momo didn't visibly react but underneath the blanket her hands were balled into fists. Hearing him tell her that hurt because every time he had tried to protect her, tried to save her, he just ended up hurting himself. She didn't want him to be hurt anymore because of him. She wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth all the pain he had been put through because of her, all the agony he had suffered at the hands of Aizen. Sometimes, she had wondered if Aizen had decided to use her as he had because he would be able to hurt Shiro, or if he had wanted to hurt him from the beginning and had decided to use Momo to do it. In the end though, it didn't really matter.

(Break/break/break/break/break/break)

Orihime awoke to her most favorite sound in the word: Aisamu's babbling voice and loud giggles. She rolled over and opened her eyes to see him sitting on the bed next to her with his stuffed caterpillar in hand, seemingly discussing something very important and exciting with it. When he saw that she was awake, he squealed in delight and crawled towards and flung himself at her.

"Oof!" Orihime groaned as Aisamu landed on her side and she rolled over. He sat down on top her stomach and started babbling away, waving his arms around and bouncing slightly. She couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm and the movement caused him to bounce around even more.

There was a knock at the door and Orihime immediately sat up, catching Aisamu as he started to slide backwards and setting him back on the bed. She stood and walked to the door, opening it a crack and peeking out to see who was on the other side. When she saw Captain Ukitake standing on the other side with a tray of food, she opened the door up all the way and invited him in.

Ukitake entered the room with a large smile and cheerful greeting. "Good morning, Orihime!"

"Good morning, Captain! Thank you for bringing us breakfast!"

"No problem! Did you two have a good nights rest?"

Aisamu stood up and toddled over to Ukitake with a large grin. "Hi!"

Ukitake crouched down so he was closer to Aisamu's height. "Well hello there, little man."

Aisamu pointed at the tray in the Captain's hands. "Food?"

Ukitake chuckled. "Why yes, this is food. Are you hungry?"

Aisamu gave a loud squeal of happiness. "Food!"

Orihime and Ukitake laughed at the little boys enthusiasm. Orihime took the tray from Ukitake and began setting out the food while the Captain sat on the ground next to Aisamu and began telling the boy all about the Soul Society. Even though Aisamu was too young to understand what he was saying, the look of concentration on his face made it seem as if he was trying his hardest to listen and comprehend what he was being told.

"As interesting as this all is," Orihime interrupted as nicely as possible, not wanting to offend their host. "We should probably eat now. I'm guessing we have a busy day ahead of us."

"That's a bit of an understatement," Ukitake said with a grimace. "You and Aisamu will be spending the morning at the Squad 4 barracks with Captain Unohana and her lieutenant before going to see Captain Kurotsuchi."

Orihime refused to let him see that she was uncomfortable and scared at the prospect of her son being anywhere near the unstable Squad 12 Captain. "I see," was all she said in response to his announcement.

Ukitake wasn't fooled. "Look, I understand that you're probably uncomfortable with the idea of being in close contact with Captain Kurotsuchi after your previous experiences but I give you my word that neither you nor your son will be harmed in any way while he runs his tests."

Orihime didn't say a word to him, focusing instead on feeding Aisamu his breakfast. She understood what he was really telling her: they were safe today but from tomorrow onwards they were considered fair game.

Ukitake sighed, saddened by the young woman's lack of trust. He couldn't say he blamed her though; after everyone's reactions yesterdays she would have to be a fool to put her trust in them when it came to the safety of her son and herself.

There was a knock at the door and then it slid open to show Rukia Kuchiki. "Captain Ukitake." She didn't look at either Orihime or Aisamu.

"Ah, yes, hello there, Rukia!" Ukitake greeted her cheerfully. "I see you received my message."

"I did. How can I be of assistance?"

"You will be escorting Orihime and Aisamu to Captain Unohana and remaining with them throughout the duration of their visit. Shunsei and I will be there by this afternoon to relieve you."

"I understand," Rukia said, her face and tone empty of all emotions.

Orihime stood up and faced the Captain and Lieutenant. "If you could both excuse us while I get Aisamu and myself ready to leave."

"Of course," said Ukitake, standing up and smiling down at Aisamu. "I shall see you all later."

He exited the room, quietly sliding the door shut behind him. Orihime let out the breath she had been holding and unclenched her hands. She hadn't even considered the possibility that Rukia would be the one escorting her today and she felt foolish for not having thought of it. She had known that Captain Ukitake wouldn't be able to stay with her and Aisamu at all times and that, eventually, she would have to be around Rukia but she had thought that she would have more time ready herself for it. Instead, she had to spend the morning in the company of the lieutenant and, after last night, she had no idea how she was supposed to stay in the presence of the woman who would have taken her son from her before he was born. Orihime felt physically ill at the thought of Aisamu being gone, taken from her before she had even gotten the chance to have him; at the thought of never having held him for the first time, of never seeing his smile or hearing his laugh. Every moment she had ever had with him was worth more to her than her own life and Rukia would have taken that from her without a second thought.

Orihime took several deep, shuddering breaths. She couldn't think like that, the what-could-have's didn't matter. She needed to concentrate on getting herself and her son ready to survive the day ahead of them. Orihime fervently prayed that Momo would be with them for both appointments; she didn't know how she would get through them without her help and support.

After changing Aisamu and packing a small bag of toys for him, just in case they needed to keep him entertained, she picked up her son and held him tightly to her side as she exited the room. Rukia was leaning on the wall to the right of the door and straightened as the stopped in front of her.

They stared at each other for a moment before Rukia looked away, seemingly uncomfortable with the unfriendly expression on Orihime's face and not even looking towards Aisamu. She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it Orihime. "Here," she said. "You need to put this on before we go."

Orihime studied the object in Rukia's hand. It looked like an ordinary bracelet. "What is it?" she asked, not even attempting to take it from her.

Rukia sighed, as if Orihime's lack of trust was bothersome to her. "It's a bracelet that's designed to hide your spiritual presence while you're here. The Captain has placed a barrier around this area so that you're hidden while you're here but once you leave this will keep you hidden from the other Soul Reapers."

Orihime still didn't take it. "What about Aisamu?"

Rukia twitched slightly at the sound of his name but recovered quickly. "He should be fine since no one knows who he is they won't be all that interested in his presence; they'll probably just think he's one of the people who came with Ichigo. You've been missing for two years though so your presence would draw their attention, something I doubt you want."

"Why can't you just give Aisamu one as well?"

"Because he doesn't need one," snapped Rukia, obviously annoyed. "We're not just handing these out like candy or something."

Orihime reluctantly took the bracelet from Rukia and slid it on her wrist, staring at it for a moment afterwards to make sure it didn't do anything strange.

"Alright, let's go," Rukia ordered. She grabbed Orihime's arm and she barely had time to tighten her hold on Aisamu before they were flash stepped away.

Once they reached Squad 4's barracks, Orihime jerked her arm away. "You should give a warning next time," she snapped, gently bouncing a wailing Aisamu, who had been shocked and scared at the abrupt movement.

Rukia sighed but didn't respond. Orihime's teeth clenched but she didn't say anything, ignoring the short lieutenant in favor of pulling up the hood of jacket in order to cover her face and throwing a dark blanket over her now quiet son. She took a step forward to walk into the barrack and then Rukia grabbed her arm.

"Wait a moment," Rukia demanded.

Orihime jerked her arm from Rukia's grip. "What?"

"I just…" Rukia hesitated before taking a deep breath and pulling herself up to her full height. "I just wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday. It was out of line."

"Yes, it was." Orihime studied her for a moment. "Aisamu is my son and nothing is going to change that fact. I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. You don't need to like it, but you do need to accept it."

It was Rukia's turn to study the girl standing in front of her. "You've changed, Orihime."

"Yes, I did and I don't regret that. I don't regret anything that's happened in my life. My actions made me into the person I am today and gave me a family. I never really understood Ichigo's actions before when it came to his need for protecting his father and sisters but now I do. I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family safe." Her warning was clear to Rukia.

"I get it, you want to protect your son. But my job is to make sure that neither you nor your son are a threat to either the Soul Society or the Land of the Living."

Orihime was about to reply but then she felt Aisamu moving restlessly under the blanket. She lifted up the top of it and smiled down him before setting it back down and looking blankly at Rukia. "We should go in; I don't want to keep Aisamu hidden under the blanket for any longer than necessary."

Orihime turned and walked into the barracks, not bothering to turn back and see if Rukia was following her.

**Please review and let me know your thoughts! Also, I have rewritten and updated all the past chapters. There are no major changes but if you noticed something was different then that is why.**


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